Guarded
by hazelnut81
Summary: AU story with Dante and Lulu. Dante is still a detective with the Port Charles Police Department but Lulu is a famous author with a determined stalker.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

This is my first non-one shot of these two so not sure if it will be any good or if there will be any interest. This is an AU story for the most part. Port Charles is still the setting. Dante is a cop who transferred to the Port Charles police department from the NYPD a couple of months ago to be closer to his mom. There is no mob in Port Charles, and he doesn't know who his father is, probably isn't something I'll go into as I think I'll keep secondary characters to a minimum. Lulu is a highly successful author who has been away from Port Charles for awhile on a book tour, so she and Dante haven't met. But when Lulu seeks refuge back home after a stalker makes her his target, that's about to change Let me know if I should continue.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

God he hated this town sometimes.

"You haven't even been here that long."

Dante glanced up from the dead body to his partner, Lucky Spencer.

"Did I say that out loud?"

Lucky just grunted and pulled out his radio to call in the crime scene. They had been headed back to the station to wrap up their paperwork after a twelve hour day when they heard the hysterical screams. Running to the docks where the sounds were coming from, they found a teenage girl who couldn't be older than fifteen or sixteen staring down in horror at the bloodied body at the edge of the pier. She mumbled incoherently, her body overtaken with shudders, her face pale, they couldn't get anything out of her so Lucky led her to a bench nearby out of view of the body but where he could still keep an eye on her until she calmed down enough to be able to provide them with at least some information. Poor kid would be scarred for life.

Dante stared back down at the body of the twenty-something woman, a reflection of a life cut way too short and let the familiar outrage run its course before he pushed it aside and did his job.

More than three hours later as they finished processing the scene and working with the Medical Examiner and CSI team, Dante stretched his tired muscles and ran a hand through his hair.

"Fuck. Second damn body this week. I thought I'd get away from some of this shit in Port Charles."

"Yeah, well, this is typically what we see in maybe a couple months, not a few days. I don't have a good feeling about this." Lucky sounded as tired as he felt.

"Nothing good to feel about death." Dante just sighed and shook his head. "Second body of a female found in five days of each other, both with knife wounds over pretty much every inch of their body. No identification, no missing persons reports that match their descriptions, no witnesses, no fingerprints. We have to start considering ser-"

"Don't even say it," Lucky replied tiredly.

"I don't have to say it but we damn well better start thinking it. I don't want a third body."

Lucky rubbed a hand over his face. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."

* * *

Lulu Spencer felt like crying. And damn it, she was not a weak woman. But here she was with her proverbial tail tucked between her legs running to the only place she felt safe – home. In the span of two months she went from sociable and carefree to paranoid, afraid, and constantly looking over her shoulder. She hated having to cancel the last leg of her tour and disappointing her fans but she knew she had no choice, was certainly in no shape to carry herself through hours of conversation and autographs all the while wondering if she was being watched, stalked, targeted. She shuddered as she stopped in front of the doors to the PCPD, trying to decide how to let her brother know what was going on without freaking him out. This was going to be fun.

She found him at his desk, his head in his hands as his fingers massaged his temples. She cleared her throat and his head jerked up. He looked at her in shock, his eyes looking tired, his posture looking even more so, as if he hadn't slept in who knows how long. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Lulu! What are you doing here? Your tour isn't over yet. I thought you weren't going to be back until next month?"

"Yeah, about that…" her voice trailed off.

"What's wrong?" he asked suddenly.

_Be strong, be strong, be strong_, she told herself. But as she saw the protectiveness and concern from Lucky as he stared at her, she did the one thing she made herself _not_ do the past couple of months – she burst into tears.

Alarmed, her brother had jumped to his feet, looking both helpless and angry that something was upsetting his little sister. That comforted her. She sniffed as Lucky pushed her down into the chair in front of his desk and demanded she tell him what was going on. More than a little horrified at her behavior, she yanked a couple of tissues from the box on his desk and rubbed at her eyes. She pulled out a mirror from her purse and satisfied that evidence of her emotional outburst was wiped away, she took a deep breath - and told Lucky everything.

"Son of a bitch," he said angrily when she finished. He pushed himself back so he was sitting on the edge of his desk. "Lulu, why the hell didn't you come to me sooner?"

"I…I don't know. I thought it would go away."

"Well something that's for sure not going away is you. You're staying here until the bastard is caught. I won't let him have a chance at you here, you can count on that. Jesus, Lulu. Don't you ever keep anything like this from me again."

She nodded and forced a smile. "Thanks Lucky. I really missed you."

"I missed you too." His gaze seemed to settle on something over her shoulder. "I want to bring my partner in to help with this."

"You have a partner?" She turned around to see what he was looking at and her breath caught at the man walking towards them. Whoa. Her eyes scanned what looked to be over five and a half feet of hotness. Despite herself, she admired the way he looked in his dark jeans, the brown shirt with the two buttons open at the top, his shoulder harness fitting snugly around him. His somewhat shaggy brown hair and slight scruff indicating at least a couple of days of being unshaven shouldn't have been sexy but damn if her stomach didn't clench at the sight. Damn she did not need this. He looked as exhausted as her brother did, but when her eyes met his and he flashed her a knowing grin, she knew he caught her checking him out. And when she felt her stomach flutter just a little bit at that smile, she knew she was in trouble.

She was shaken from her thoughts at the sound of her brother's voice. "Lulu, this is my partner, Dante Falconeri. Dante, this is Lulu Spencer. My sister."

* * *

Dante stared at the gorgeous blonde sitting before him. And what a sight she was. Long hair that framed a face he wanted to reach out to touch to see if it felt as soft as it looked. And where the hell did that thought come from? He caught sight of her full lips that he just bet could bring a man a whole lot of pleasure, a deep blue dress that seemed to hug her in all the right places. Oh yeah, those thoughts were _much_ better. He couldn't stop the smile that tugged his lips when she looked him over just as thoroughly as he did her. And he sure as hell didn't miss the warning note in Lucky's voice when he said "my sister".

"So this is your sister…."

God he loved this town sometimes.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I very much appreciate it. I'll keep trying to go with this unless the interest wears off. I was out of town on a business trip the past couple of days but I am home now. I will try to have more up later.

**Chapter 2**

Lulu watched as Dante grabbed a chair and pulled it close to hers. Angling it towards her, he sat down and threw her another one of those bone-melting grins. "It's a pleasure."

The way he said "pleasure" had her shifting a little uncomfortably in her seat as she felt a jolt of said pleasure straight to her…She shook her head. What in the hell was wrong with her? She hadn't felt this kind of instant reaction to a man in, well, ever. As if reading her thoughts, he winked at her. It should have been a corny move. But damn it, it was just…sexy, which made her irritated with herself. "I don't remember ever seeing you in here before," she said and then winced when she heard how annoyed she sounded.

Dante just let out a slight laugh. "I just moved to Port Charles about two and a half months ago. And I know I haven't seen you around. That I would have remembered."

Oh yeah, she was going to have to watch herself around this one. "I've been on tour."

"Tour?"

Lucky cleared his throat and Lulu saw the warning glare he threw in Dante's direction. "Lulu's an author. You haven't heard of her?"

Dante shook his head and looked back over at Lulu. "I don't really read much. I prefer other…extracurricular activities."

"Oh I just bet you do," Lulu muttered under her breath.

"Watch it, Falconeri." After a pause to make sure Dante got the message, he continued. "All six of Lulu's books have made the New York Times Bestsellers list. Her latest has been number one for four weeks so far."

Lulu smiled at the pride in her brother's voice. The whole idea of being a "bestselling author" still seemed so surreal to her.

"Huh. That's pretty awesome. Congratulations."

Because he sounded genuine, Lulu smiled at him. "Thank you. Wait. Falconeri? As in Olivia –"

"She's my mom."

"I met her right before I left for my tour. She's a pretty mean cook. She was filling in for Mike over at Kelly's one day when he was sick."

"No one matches Ma in the kitchen," Dante said with such affection Lulu couldn't help but be charmed…a little.

"What kind of books do you write?" he asked changing the subject.

"Mystery/crime fiction mostly. I've learned a lot from my brother."

"They're good," Lucky put in. "You should check them out. Anyway, I need your help. Lulu's going to be back at home for awhile and I want to make sure she's protected while she's here."

"Protected? As in the big bruiser stuck-like-glue variety? I'm a cop, not a bodyguard. Don't have quite the physique. Although…" He leaned in even closer so his face was within inches of hers. She saw his eyes glance downwards and then back up again. She immediately felt her cheeks start to flush. "Anytime you want to come over to my place, I'll flex a few muscles for you. There's one in particular…well, I guess that's not really a muscle, but..."

Lulu's mouth dropped open. Then clamped shut. Torn between being turned on and pissed off, and being pissed off that she was turned on, she was saved from offering a response by Lucky's angry voice.

"Dante. I swear to god if I didn't know Lulu could kick your ass herself, you would be on the ground right now, but I'm damn tempted as it is anyway."

Dante just smiled and held up his hands in surrender as he leaned back in his chair. "Sorry. I'll be good."

"I don't think I like you very much," Lulu told him, not sure if she was really telling him or convincing herself. Although, she did stop thinking about her more immediate problem since he walked over so she'd give him that much.

He didn't look hurt by her comment. "That's what they all say at first. Don't worry. I grow on people."

"Like what? Fungus?" She plastered a polite smile on her face, but Dante just laughed.

"Well I think I like you well enough for the both of us, Lulu Spencer."

Lulu tilted her head a little at him and their eyes met momentarily, as if they were each contemplating the other. She didn't quite know what to make of Dante Falconeri. Her brother's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Okay. Now that we know we all may or may not like each other, can we get back to the issue at hand?"

Lulu sighed as she stared at Lucky. "I'm fine." _Liar_, her inner voice screamed. "I know this town like the back of my hand. If there's anywhere I feel safe, it's here." Well, that much was true.

"Am I missing something here?" Dante asked confused.

"I just seem to have gotten myself into a little bit of trouble…There's someone out there who's a little…obsessed with me."

Just like that Dante's whole demeanor went from playful to all business. "Someone giving you trouble?"

"No," Lucky cut in grimly. "Someone wants her dead."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Run that by me again?"

Lulu glanced over at Dante, saw his whole body become alert. Cop mode. Lulu was well familiar with that look. "Lucky's exaggerating."

"Am I?" Lucky countered. "I don't think so."

Yeah, she didn't think so either, but denial was always better than facing hard truths.

"I can judge for myself. Tell me everything." Dante's tone left no room for argument and had Lulu shrinking back in her seat.

"I already told Lucky everything." And doing that had been difficult enough. Yet without wanting to examine it too closely, she knew having to tell Dante, essentially a stranger, would make her feel even more vulnerable.

"Well now you tell me."

She let out a deep breath. "Look, I appreciate the concern but the important thing is I'm home now. And no offense, but you both look like hell so it's obvious I came at a bad time."

"And you should know your safety is my priority, Lulu. You're not going to be okay until this bastard is caught. I think we need as much help as possible. Dante's a good cop. Let us help you."

"And I can't do anything if you don't tell me what's going on," Dante added. "Now. The beginning is usually a great place to start."

Lulu looked at him a little exasperated. "Why do you even care?"

"It's my job to care." When Lulu opened her mouth to speak again, he silenced her by simply raising a finger. "That's one. Lucky's been a good partner to me, and a good friend. Keeping you safe is important to him so it's important to me. That's two. If I hadn't been so distracted by you earlier, I probably would have noticed how scared you were. I'm seeing it now. That's three. And quite frankly it pisses me off when people think they can get away with terrorizing other people. If that's happening to you, I want to help stop it. Do you want more reasons, or is that sufficient?"

Lulu wanted to ask him what he meant by "distracted" but his expression hardened and she could tell his patience was already being tested. Yeah, she had no doubt he was a solid cop.

Lulu grabbed her glass of water from the edge of Lucky's desk and took a drink. "Fine," she said after a long pause. "It started four months ago."

Dante's eyebrows raised. "Four months ago? Why-"

"I already got the lecture from Lucky," she cut him off, angrily looking from her brother to Dante. "I don't want another one."

Instead of apologizing, Dante just gestured with his hand. "Go on."

"It's not uncommon for me to get at least a hundred pieces of fan mail a week. They get sent to my publisher, who gives them to my agent, who gives them to me. I read all of them. I didn't even think anything of the first few that came, not until later. I've talked to a lot of other authors and they all get crazy or threatening letters or gifts sometimes. Honestly, I only have vague recollections of those first three or four because I didn't even keep them."

"You don't remember anything?" Dante asked.

She shook her head. "Not really. Just that they were a little out there. Stuff like 'You're beautiful', 'Will you let me take you to dinner?', 'I want to get to know you better.' Like a juvenile crush or something. He always sent his letters –"

"How do you know it's a 'he'"? Dante cut her off.

"I'll get to that if you'll just let me finish damn it," she threw back annoyed. "I bet criminals hate you."

Dante let the barest of smiles touch his mouth before looking back at her expectantly.

"Anyway, his letters always came the same way – red envelope, pink paper, no return address, unsigned. Handwritten, but not very legible. He sent one letter a week the first month. Those were the ones I didn't keep. I was touring at the time so my agent didn't always have new batches of fan mail until every couple weeks or so. But the next letter I got from him didn't come with the regular fan mail. It was waiting for me at the front desk of the hotel I was staying at in San Diego. He was angry I didn't make contact with him, which even if I wanted to I wouldn't have been able to because he never left a name or address. This time there were pictures of me at the previous evening's event at one of the bookstores in town. I got freaked out, told my agent, and he got the police involved. But they couldn't do anything because the hotel clerk didn't remember anyone leaving the envelope at the desk, and there were no fingerprints on the envelope, the letter, or the pictures. A couple of weeks passed and he didn't make contact so I was hoping that was the last I would hear from him. But then when I was in Seattle another envelope was waiting for me at the hotel I was staying at there. I called the police right away before even opening it. He said it was rude to ignore the attention of an adoring fan and that someone should show me the meaning of the word respect and that if I was lucky he would be my 'teacher.' Then he wrote that I shouldn't forget he was keeping an eye on me and there were more pictures of me checking into the hotel the previous night and more of me waiting for the elevator."

Lulu took a break to take another drink of water, cursing silently at her shaking hand. She remembered that moment of instant and bone-deep fear that someone that crazy was close enough to her to take pictures and she didn't even realize it. Just like that her sense of security and confidence had been shattered. She told Dante about how much of a mess she was at the next several events, how on edge she felt. Even though it was the second time her brother was hearing the story, he looked just as angry as he had the first time. As her eyes moved back and forth between the two men, she saw how alike their facial expressions were. Even as she knew they were both schooled to not show any outward reaction, she saw the tight lines of their mouths, the glances and nods back and forth, the clenching of a fist, the rubbing of a jaw. With a sigh, she finished the story that she wished were only a nightmare.

"Then there was Chicago about a week and a half ago. It had been over a month since the incident in Seattle. But it didn't matter. Every single event I went to I was wondering if that was when he was going to try something next. The bookstores we visit usually set aside a room for the authors to get ready in, prepare, take breaks, whatever. When I got in the room, there were flowers waiting for me and another letter. I was already running late and supposed to start my event in the next few minutes so I didn't even open it. I did my Q&A session and signed autographs and when I was done I called the police. This time he wanted to know if I missed his letters. He wrote that he wanted me to know that even though he hadn't made contact he was still keeping watch. He said that if I thanked him publicly for his flowers in the session that my 'transgressions' would be forgiven." She shook her head. "Even if I had read that letter before the event I wouldn't have done it. And he never left a name so who was I supposed to thank – the delusional psychopath? I had one last event in Chicago the following afternoon. My agent told me to cancel it. But I couldn't do it. I had so many people who had written to me that they were looking forward to the events. I didn't want to let them down. So I refused. And of course the next day even though it was a different bookstore, there was a box waiting for me at the store. My agent called the police this time. When we opened the box, there was lingerie inside. He called me an ungrateful bitch. Said…said the next time he saw me that I'd be wearing this and that he'd…"

"What?" Dante bit out.

"That he'd cut the lingerie to pieces just like he'd cut me to pieces. I didn't protest cancelling the event then. Or the rest of the tour. I got some things in order, had to deal with the police, and headed here."

She barely heard the curse he muttered. Barely saw the grim looks that Dante and Lucky exchanged but then realized that was because her eyes were clouded with tears again. She blinked them away, or tried to anyway, and then jumped when she felt a hand touch her knee. She sucked in a breath at the unexpected contact and looked into his eyes.

"We'll keep you safe, Lulu."

She swallowed through the emotion clogging her throat, could only manage a nod.

"He won't touch you," Lucky added.

For the first time, Lulu wondered if she dared to hope that was true.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you to all who have commented and are liking the story. I appreciate the encouragement and feedback. Not sure I'll be able to update for the next couple of days, but hope you enjoy this one :)

**Chapter 4**

Dante was immune to a lot of things. A woman's tears were not one of those things. And the fact that _this_ woman's tears in particular seemed to tear at something inside of him on a level he hadn't felt before was not something he had a desire to look at too closely. When a couple of tears dropped to Lulu's cheek, he resisted the urge to wipe them away – barely. Shit, he was in trouble.

When he glanced over at Lucky, he saw the fear in his eyes. He imagined if he had a little sister he would be feeling the same thing. As it was, he wanted to rip Lulu's stalker to shreds. Anyone who could put the kind of terror and helplessness he saw in Lulu's eyes, in anyone's eyes, didn't deserve to breathe. It seemed that when he put one psychopath away, another two jumped up in their place. He knew he wouldn't have a job if everything was sunshine and freaking roses but Christ, it wore him the hell out and had him wondering more often than not when the good guys would stay on top.

He didn't even realize he still had his hand on Lulu's knee until he looked back at her, saw her glance down towards her lap. Okay, so it looked like his hand had crept a little upwards to her thigh. He didn't think it was intentional – consciously. When she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, he felt his cock tighten painfully in his jeans. Jesus. He was essentially feeling Lulu up in front of her brother, he realized. And sporting a somewhat impressive hard-on that was pretty difficult to hide. He shot a quick glance to where Lucky sat behind his desk, mentally judged his field of vision, determined he couldn't see that close in front of his desk and breathed an internal sigh of relief. And felt like a damn creep. Lulu's eyes shot back up to his. Clearing his throat, he drew his hand away and shifted in his chair. When he watched Lulu start to stand, he shook his head.

"Whoa. Where do you think you're going?"

She glared at him. "I'm tired. I want to head back to my apartment and get some rest."

"You're not going to your apartment," Lucky stated.

"And I'm not finished yet," Dante added.

Lulu sighed and sat back down in her seat looking defeated. _Don't get sucked in_, Dante told himself.

"We're going to want to see all the letters you have."

"The police have all the originals, but I have copies. I'll give them to Lucky later."

"I'm also going to want the names and numbers of all the officers who have investigated so far."

Before Lulu could respond, he continued. "And I can understand why you think the perp is a male, I'm inclined to agree, but you can't rule anyone out."

Lulu just stared at him briefly before turning back to Lucky and addressing his earlier statement. "Why can't I go to my apartment?"

"Your name is attached to that apartment. Until we know who and what we're dealing with, I don't think it's safe."

"But what about Maxie? If it's not safe for me, I don't want her there either."

"Maxie's out of the country on a business trip. She'll be gone for the next three weeks at least."

Dante watched as Lulu narrowed her eyes at her brother. "How do you know?"

"Maxie and I aren't exactly strangers, Lulu."

"When I left you weren't exactly buddies, either."

Amused, Dante flicked his gaze between Lulu and Lucky. Judging by the look on Lulu's face, Dante suspected she would be less than pleased to find out that they were indeed buddies…bed buddies anyway. "Maxie's your roommate?"

Lulu turned her head and glared. "You know Maxie?"

"I've seen her around here," he hedged and pretended he didn't see the death glares Lucky threw his way. Dante saw the moment understanding dawned. Lulu's eyes widened a little bit as she looked accusingly at Lucky.

"No."

"Lulu-" Lucky started.

"No, no, no. Are you insane?"

Dante leaned back in his chair and grinned.

Lucky seemed to squirm a little. "It's nothing serious. And I'm not discussing this with you. Besides, she's your best friend."

"Exactly! And I love her. But she has more issues than a psychiatrist deals with in a month."

Dante laughed. And then held up his hands in surrender when Lulu looked ready to unload on him. "Alright, as much as I hate to break up this entertainment, we need to get back on track. Who knows you're here?"

He could see she wasn't happy with the change in subject. There was a long pause before she continued. "Michael, -"

"Who's Michael?" Dante asked quickly.

"My agent."

Dante exchanged a look with Lucky. "We're going to want to talk to him."

Lulu stared at him, then at Lucky. "He is _not_ the one doing this."

"Like I said, we'll want to talk to him."

"For God's sake, he's twice my age and very happily married. I've been to dinner with his family on more than one occasion. He wouldn't do this."

"Who else?" Lucky asked.

With a sigh, Lulu brushed some stray hair away from her face. Dante felt his groin tighten again and nearly groaned out loud. There was something seriously wrong with him if that small action turned him on.

"Rebecca. She's my editor. I'm sure several people at the publishing company know. A couple of other authors who were touring with me. I guess anyone who reads the back jackets of my books may suspect I'm here. Port Charles is listed as my hometown." She suddenly looked uneasy. "Maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea."

"I'll feel better with you here than anywhere else. We'll find this bastard," Lucky assured her. He stood up and walked around his desk, pulling his sister up and wrapping her in a hug.

"Thank you," she said quietly as she pulled away. And then looked at Dante. "Both of you."

To cover the discomfort he felt from her gratitude, he just shot her a grin. "You can make it up to me later."

"Oh, wow, I can't wait," she smiled with exaggerated enthusiasm and then just shook her head.

Oh yeah, he liked Lulu Spencer a whole hell of a lot. Way more than he wanted to.

"You'll stay with me," Lucky told her. "I just bought a house last month not too far from here. It's small, but you'll be comfortable. I've been keeping your car there too. Let's go get you settled."

Dante stood up. "I know you're tired of all the questions but there are still things we need to go over."

Before Lulu could respond, Commissioner Scorpio stuck his head out his office door. "Detectives. I need that report from last night in the next hour. I've got the mayor breathing down my neck." He noticed Lulu and threw her a quick smile. "Nice to see you home, Lulu." And then he was gone, his door closing behind him.

Fatigue beat at Dante. He looked down at his watch, realized he'd been up for well over 24 hours now. He wanted nothing more than to crash on the closest flat surface and get some sleep. But he turned to Lucky. "You go ahead and take her home. I'll finish up the report. I'll come by with some takeout later and we can come up with a game plan."

Lucky hesitated. "Are you sure? I can come back –"

Shaking his head, Dante waved him off with his hand. "Get out of here."

Nodding, Lucky grabbed his keys from his desk. "Let's go," he said to Lulu.

Dante watched as Lucky grabbed her bags and they headed towards the exit. He saw Lulu stop, and then turn back around. "See you later, Detective." Moments later they were both out the door.

Smiling, Dante headed to his desk and got to work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I love this place." Lulu smiled at Lucky as he walked out of the kitchen into the family room. He handed her a glass of water and sat down next to her on the couch.

"Thanks. It's starting to feel like home."

He was right when he said it was small, but the openness of the layout made it feel roomy. Even though most of the décor screamed bachelor pad, it suited her brother. She had already gotten settled in the second bedroom and changed into some comfortable lounge pants and a t-shirt. Though the weight of this whole…situation…still sat on her shoulders like lead, it felt good to unwind and relax, or try to anyway. More than anything though, she felt at least some semblance of safety here and she'd hold on to that as tightly as she could.

The knock at the door startled her from her thoughts and she watched as Lucky walked to the door and pulled it open.

"I have burgers, fries, and beer." Dante walked inside carrying a bag of food and a six pack of beer in one hand and what looked like a lot of files tucked underneath his other arm. He stared right at Lulu, and she could have sworn she saw his eyes flare a little. "And a really big appetite." And somehow Lulu didn't think he was talking about the food and that thought had her fighting back a shiver. She saw he had changed into a grey t-shirt that fit to his upper body perfectly. When her mouth started watering, she knew that also had little to do with said food. This was crazy. She had known Dante for less than a day but this attraction she felt went far beyond what she had felt for anyone else before…far beyond what should be normal. Finding herself in this kind of unfamiliar territory was both disconcerting and exciting. She found herself wishing that was all she had to worry about instead of the target she seemed to be carrying over her head.

* * *

They had the food spread out on the coffee table. Lucky and Lulu sat on the couch and Dante had moved the recliner so he was sitting across from them. Lulu was smoking hot in the dress she had been wearing earlier but she pulled off a look that was both adorable and sexy in the jersey pants and clingy t-shirt.

When she reached for her burger and took a big bite out of it, making a "Mmmm" sound in the process, his cock jerked to attention, something it had been doing a lot of around her. He struggled not to outwardly react as her tongue licked away some of the ketchup that had settled around the corner of her mouth.

"God…you have no idea how much I missed the burgers from Kelly's."

"Best burgers I've had," he agreed. She took another bite, truly looked like she was savoring it. Because his thoughts started veering off towards something else he'd like to see in her mouth, he forced himself to look away from her, turned to Lucky, who had his eyes narrowed in suspicion. _Can you say awkward?_

"Mac wants to meet with us to talk about the case tomorrow morning 9am."

"Is this the case that has you both looking like you haven't slept in days?" Lulu interjected.

Lucky and Dante just grunted in response and Lulu seemed to look at them speculatively.

"Anything you can share?"

Lucky shook his head. "Sorry little sis. You're going to have to turn your author brain off for this one. We can't go into any details. Too new."

Lulu just shrugged and continued working on her food. "Was worth a shot."

As the food started dwindling down, Dante used the opportunity to start drilling Lulu with questions again. He knew she wasn't happy with the turn in conversation as she pushed the rest of her food away from her and just frowned at him as he rattled off question after question. But he needed all the information, all the details, in his head to be able to move forward with any chance of success of catching the bastard threatening her. Dante made her show them the copies of the letters and previous police reports. He and Lucky both read the letters, went over them piece by piece with her. Each time he read them he got more pissed off and knew without a doubt that Lucky felt the same. This was one seriously fucked up piece of shit. He just scanned over the police reports, knowing that if he had time tomorrow he would call the investigating officers to talk to them more in depth.

As much as he knew Lulu was trying to stay strong as they went over everything again, he saw how upset she was. He was sure she was trying her best to just forget everything but he had been a cop long enough, had seen and spoken to too many victims, to know trying to forget didn't make it go away. Her frustration was coming through loud and clear in her last few responses so he didn't protest when she told him and Lucky that she didn't want to answer any more questions.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really tired. I had a long day traveling, and honestly I haven't had a good night's sleep in months so I'm hoping being back here that will finally change. I'm just going to go to bed."

She stood up, seemed to force a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks for dinner," she said to Dante before telling them both good night and heading down the hall to her bedroom.

* * *

_So much for a good night's sleep_. The nightmare had her shooting straight up in bed, heart racing. It was the same nightmare that had plagued her almost every single night since getting that letter last week. She was standing frozen in place, completely unable to move. She felt his presence behind her but couldn't pick up her feet to run, couldn't turn around to see how close he was. She felt the press of a blade against her throat, that first cut that released the first trickle of blood. Then came the cuts everywhere else, each one deeper, more painful, more excruciating. _"I'm going to cut you to pieces."_ It's then in her dream, each time, she goes to open her mouth to scream. And it's then when consciousness takes over and slams her awake, has her reaching her hand out to her neck, to her arms, to her face, everywhere because it just felt so _real_. She expected to draw her hand away and find her blood soaking her fingers.

She broke out into a cold sweat, fought back a sob. _He would not win_, she kept telling herself fiercely over and over. She glanced over at the clock. 1:37am. Great. She spent the next several minutes taking deep breaths and calming herself down. She had mostly succeeded but knew just what she needed to take the last bit of edge off.

Traipsing into the kitchen, she opened the freezer.

"Please please please." She searched. And found.

"Oh, thank you," she breathed as she pulled out the carton of chocolate ice cream. It was no chocolate chip cookie dough, but it would do. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, she plopped down on the stool at the breakfast bar, dipped into the ice cream and tasted a little bit of heaven. She moaned.

"You know…if you keep having those kinds of reactions to food, I think I could live happily watching you eat all day."

She let out a startled squeak and the spoon froze on the way back up to her mouth. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

_Dante._

Her eyes squinted into the darkness of the living room and saw his profile on the couch. Saw his arm reach up and turn on the light. And found herself drinking in the sight of him. His hair was mussed. And dear Lord he wasn't wearing a shirt. She swallowed around the lump in her throat as she tried to tear her eyes away from his bare chest. She had never been turned on by tattoos before but she felt herself drawn into the markings above the left part of his chest, his arm. He stood up and started walking towards her. As he did, his hand rubbed his chest briefly, the action so purely masculine, so purely sexy, she felt a jolt of pleasure shoot straight to her womb. Oh, this was not good.

He pulled out a stool on the opposite side of the bar and slid in, grinning at her.

"Um…What are you still doing here?"

"Lucky and I had to work on a few things. Didn't feel like heading back to my place so he told me to just crash on the sofa. Disappointed?"

When she just raised her eyebrows at him, he continued. "I mean, my other option was to crash in your bed, but…" He let his voice trail off.

That thought was way more alluring than it should have been. "You're cocky," she finally said.

"And you're trying to be pissed off about it."

She made a non-committal sound. He didn't need to know he was right. She _was_ trying. And failing.

"You could give a hungry man a bite." When she just stared at him, he smiled. "Of the ice cream, of course."

Despite herself, she smiled back. "Of course." She stepped away momentarily to grab him a spoon. And then they both took a bite.

"So what's got you up, sweetheart?"

She looked at him, surprised by the endearment but finding herself liking it nonetheless. Not that she'd admit that either. "Bad dream." She shrugged.

He shot her a sympathetic look but as if sensing she didn't want to talk about it, he didn't press for details and they spent the next few moments eating the ice cream in comfortable silence.

"So you said you didn't feel like going home. You don't live close by?"

"Not too far. Have a loft apartment about 20 minutes from here. But seeing as I have to be in to the station early, five minutes away looked a little better."

"You and my brother make a good team," she commented.

He nodded. "I agree. Port Charles has been good to me."

She licked some chocolate off the spoon. "I'm sure the females have been good to you too." And then she struggled not to wince. Had she really just said that? And had she really sounded just a little annoyed about it?

Another smile tilted his lips. "I'm not good at relationships."

"No? What are you good at?"

"Sex," he said easily. "I'm pretty good at sex."

Lulu was momentarily shocked but then she found herself pursing her lips to keep in a smile because damn it, she should not find him at all appealing. If any other guy had said half the things that Dante had said to her, her fist very well may have found a home on their face. But with Dante, she felt herself getting sucked in by the minute and barely holding on to solid ground. Not sure if she even wanted to hold on.

"Admit it. You like me."

After a long pause, she held up her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, indicating "a little", and Dante laughed in response.

Lulu stood up. "I'm going to bed." And then added, "Alone." Because she needed to think about this. "Put the ice cream away when you're done." She headed out of the kitchen, turned back. "Sweet dreams, Detective."

"If you're in them, they'd be anything but sweet."

As she turned to head back to her bedroom, she couldn't quite keep in the soft laugh. Yeah, she definitely needed to think about this.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all so much for your feedback. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying the story! And of course, I do promise the "M" stuff is coming ;) I haven't been intending this story to be a very long one so hopefully I can keep moving things along :)

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Three days had passed and Lulu hadn't seen Dante once. She found herself missing him, and wasn't that crazy? How could you miss someone you didn't even really know? There was no question she was attracted to him physically, but he triggered something in her on a different level too – he made her smile, and underneath the cockiness and the sexual innuendos, she could tell he was an honorable man. She found herself _wanting_ to get to know him better and anticipating the barely disguised, if at all, sexual references. She had been in relationships before, albeit a small handful and none long-lasting, and granted her sexual experience was somewhat limited, but she was no virgin and certainly not a prude. But the almost overwhelming lust, desire, craving, whatever you wanted to call it, was entirely new territory for her. She practically ached with it. Which meant she knew exactly where this thing would end up between them – bed.

She had no illusions of happily ever after, wasn't expecting it, but what she did know was that she wanted to feel his lips on hers, his body on hers, wanted to feel him inside of her. Wanted him to make her forget. Even as she felt her cheeks start to flush, she felt a thread of doubt weave through her mind. The brief moments she was around him, she was able to forget about her stalker. She felt like she had her life back. Was that why she was so drawn to him? Was this more about a distraction than about him?

She jumped at the sudden knock at the door, shaken from her thoughts. She walked to the door and pulled it open. Her breath held in her throat momentarily as Dante stood staring back at her. The smile he had on his face when she opened the door seemed to turn briefly into a frown before the smile reappeared so fast she would have missed it if she wasn't paying attention. _What was up with that?_

"I missed your pretty face," he said in greeting.

She swooned a little bit inside. "Really? I didn't miss you at all."

His grin grew wider. "Liar. " He moved past her and went to sit on the couch. "Lucky had to finish up some things at the station and then he was going to pick up some pasta for dinner."

"I've barely seen him for the past three days either. You guys must be pretty busy."

"Oh, so you were counting the days, huh?"

"Maybe I paid a little bit of attention." She sat down next to him on the couch.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?"

"I got a hold of the officers who investigated in San Diego and Chicago. Still waiting to hear back from Seattle. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell me anything that wasn't already in the reports, which I figured, but it was worth a shot. I have calls into your agent, editor, and publisher. So far, they haven't returned them. I'll try them again tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you knew I didn't forget about this. I'm going to do everything I can."

Touched by his words and sincerity, she was silent for several moments. When her eyes met his, her mouth suddenly felt dry. "Thank you," she said finally. She saw his eyes move down to her lips and then back up. She released a breath, suddenly nervous. She wanted him to kiss her. If the way he was staring at her was any indication, he wanted the same thing.

"Listen, I – " But whatever he was going to say was broken off by the sound of the door opening and then closing. Lulu swallowed hard, thought she heard Dante curse softly.

"Hey guys," Lucky said tiredly as he set the food he was carrying down on the table. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Lulu responded quickly.

"Unfortunately," Dante added, causing Lulu to turn her head towards him and narrow her eyes in warning, even though mentally she shared the same sentiment.

Lucky just sighed as he plopped down on the couch next to them. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. And if I _did_ hear it, I'm going to pretend that it doesn't mean what I think it means because I don't have the damn energy to kick your ass tonight."

* * *

They took their time with dinner and turned on the hockey game while they ate. Dante wasn't sure how much more he could take of this dance he and Lulu were doing. He barely knew her yet he loved being around her. Loved talking to her, teasing her, even just looking at her. And because that line of thinking had him start feeling itchy and a little panicky, he didn't delve too deeply. But damn, they hadn't even been on a date and he was dying to touch her, be inside of her.

Over dinner, Lucky and Lulu shared stories of growing up in their family while he did the same about growing up in Bensonhurst. He realized he could get used to evenings like this, and not for the first time in the past couple of months, especially in the last week, he was glad he ended up in Port Charles.

When his cell phone rang, he groaned at the interruption. Flipping it open, he answered, "Falconeri." Listening with growing dread, he met Lucky's gaze across the couch. "We'll be right there."

He pocketed his phone, saw Lulu's glance of concern. "Is everything ok? What's wrong?" When he saw her concern turn into fear, he reached out and gently touched her arm in understanding.

"It was about work. A case we're investigating. It wasn't about you."

Lulu nodded in obvious relief but the concern was still there in her eyes. "I hope everything's okay."

Lucky had already gotten up from the couch and was grabbing his jacket.

"I'll clean up everything here. Good luck," she told them.

Dante watched as Lucky kissed Lulu's cheek quickly. Dante and Lulu's eyes met briefly before he turned around and headed out to his car, Lucky following close behind.

"There's been another one," Dante said, anger pulsing through his system. "We don't even have a fucking handle on the first two."

"Where's the scene?" Lucky asked, his voice tight. Dante knew he was feeling the same kind of frustration he was.

"Don't know. Scene's been processed. By Dimestico. We were told to report to Mac's office."

"Why the hell weren't we called to the scene? This is our case."

"Wondering the same thing."

They rode in silence the rest of the short drive to the station, headed straight into Mac's office and found him waiting behind his desk. Dante turned when he saw Ronnie Dimestico enter the room behind them, nodded a brief greeting before turning back to Mac.

"So what's up? Why weren't we called as soon as the body was discovered? We've been working our asses off on this investigation." And Dante wanted to bring the son of a bitch down.

"Detective Dimestico was first to the scene. Once he and his backup started processing the scene, I made the call to hold off on bringing you in."

"What the hell for?" Lucky interjected.

"We found something on the third vic. It was put in her hand."

Dante and Lucky stared in confusion, until Mac gestured to the bagged evidence on his desk. Dante looked down, froze. Then his eyes shot over towards Lucky, saw his partner go pale.

_No. Hell fucking no. It was a coincidence. It had to be._

He quickly donned some gloves and reached for the bag. Removed the red envelope that was held inside. And as he pulled out the piece of pink paper contained within it and read, he felt his blood run cold.

_Welcome home Lulu._


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry, this one is short. I'll do my best to have another chapter up this weekend

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Dante dropped the letter and sat down heavily in one of the chairs in front of Mac's desk. He felt like he had been kicked in the gut. This couldn't be happening.

"Fucking bastard," Lucky gritted out next to him. Dante saw Lucky's hand gripping the arm of his chair so tightly his knuckles were turning white. As angry as Lucky's words were, fear laced his entire face and posture. Dante knew he wasn't thinking like a cop right now but absolutely like a brother whose sister was in danger. Dante couldn't blame him. He was hanging onto his own objectivity by a thread.

"I want to see the crime scene photos," Dante said finally.

He saw movement from the corner of his eye and Ronnie dropped a folder down on the desk in front of him. He swallowed through the tightness in his throat as he palmed through the images. Just like the last two. A woman barely recognizable with the amount of cuts covering her body. At the thought of that psycho doing this to Lulu, he felt bile rise in the back of his throat but he forced it back. _Keep emotion out of it_, he told himself over and over. _Do your job_. But as much as he kept trying to tell himself that, the desire to make this guy bleed was what he wanted, his badge be damned.

"I think someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on," Mac prompted impatiently.

"It fits," Dante murmured. Even though none of the three victims looked like one another, they had a couple of the same overall features – blonde hair of similar lengths, same general body type, and all looked to be in their mid-twenties. In line with the threat in the last letter Lulu got that her stalker was going to "cut her to pieces", yeah, it fit too damn well. But even as much as it "fit", it was almost impossible to wrap his head around the connection between these two cases. Just what kind of a demented piece of shit were they dealing with?

When Lucky remained silent, Dante passed him a look of concern before briefly giving Mac a rundown of everything he knew.

When he finished, the Commissioner frowned. "Lulu's special to a lot of people in this town. We'll throw everyone we can at this. I'm going to need to call in the Feds on this one too. We'll need all the help we can get anyway."

Dante rattled off the names of Lulu's editor, agent, and a couple of people at the publishing company that Lulu mentioned she had contact with. "I want to know all of their whereabouts at the times of the murders. Anyone in the area I want brought in for interviews."

Ronnie nodded and took notes as he spoke. "I'll take care of it."

Dante watched as Lucky rose to his feet, seemed a little shaky. "I need…" He shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. "I need to go check on Lulu. If this guy's in town, she's not safe. I can't..."

"Sit down, Spencer" Mac ordered. "Before you fall down. I'll send a car over to your house. I'm not done with you. We need to have a conversation."

"Not a good time," Lucky said, the anger coming back into his voice.

Dante stood up. "I'll go check on her." When Lucky looked hesitant, Dante put a hand on his shoulder briefly. "I'll keep her safe. We'll figure this out."

Finally Lucky nodded before collapsing back into the chair. Dante headed for the door, practically ran out of the station to his car. The short drive seemed to take forever. The rage he kept at bay at the station kept trying to claw its way out. Now wasn't the time to analyze the feelings of possessiveness and protectiveness running through him. But he knew without a doubt that anyone who wanted to hurt Lulu would have to go through him. He dreaded having to tell her what was going on, dreaded seeing that haunted, terrified look pass over her face again. He saw firsthand how scared she was. He'd seen before how fear could be a very paralyzing thing. But if push came to shove, would Lulu be able to defend herself? Fight back? He'd also seen too many times how that could be the difference between life and death.

* * *

Lulu shut off the water in the shower and opened the stall door, reaching for a towel to wrap around her body. Grabbing another towel, she started drying her hair as she stepped out. The hot water had felt good beating against her tired muscles. She heard what sounded like a _thump thump thump_ and her brow creased before she opened the bathroom door slightly and realized someone was knocking on the front door. Sighing, she patted her body as dry as possible and slipped on the pink camisole and pajama pants she had hanging on the door.

She walked down the hallway and headed to the front door, pulling it open and then frowning when there was no one standing there.

She didn't see it coming. It happened so fast she didn't even have time to scream. One second she was shutting the door and the next thing she knew, she saw nothing more than a flash as someone pushed the door open with their foot before it closed, pulled her hands behind her back, and pressed her face first against the wall.


	8. Chapter 8

Just another thank you to everyone for their feedback. Definitely nice to know people are liking the story. Here's a longer one for you guys because I probably won't have a chance to write again until early next week. Hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Terror kept her frozen in place, as if she could move anyway. This could not be happening. She tensed as she felt warm breath on her neck, then a voice in her ear.

"Lesson one. Don't _ever_ open a door unless you're goddamn sure you know who you're opening it to. Sometimes not even then."

Recognition slammed into her instantly, stole her breath. Then came disbelief…confusion…anger.

_Dante? _

Shaken to the core, heart racing, she couldn't speak, still couldn't move.

"You did that earlier too. Pissed me off. I didn't say anything then but I'm damn well showing you now what can happen if you don't take your safety seriously."

Her mind tried to make sense of her scrambled thoughts, make sense of what was happening. He had her pushed against a wall, deliberately terrified her, just to teach her a fucking lesson? She started shaking, not sure if it was from shock or fury. He was pressed up against her. He still had her wrists held behind her back with his hand. Her cheek was pressed against the wall. She could see him now from the corner of her eye, but just barely.

"You use a peephole. If you don't have a peephole, which I know Lucky doesn't but you can bet I'll be installing one tomorrow, you look out a fucking window. If there's no window, at the very least you ask who it is or you don't answer it at all."

Lulu felt like she was outside of her body. Why in the hell was he doing this to her? And why couldn't she open her mouth and say anything? Any damn thing?

"You're scared," Dante responded as if reading her thoughts. "Being scared is not going to save your life. Only you can make sure you're not an easy target. I can protect you as best I can, plan to do just that, but you need to know how to defend yourself, how to fight back. You won't be another one of his victims."

He spoke that last statement with such fierceness, she automatically found herself trying to press further against the wall. Something was not right. What had gotten into him? She could still hear the rapid thumping of her heart as if there was drum beating loudly in her ear.

"Fight me."

Her mouth dropped open a little. _Fight him?_ He couldn't be serious.

"You don't need your hands to fight. Chances are they'd be restrained anyway, like now."

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to be anywhere but there. She didn't want to think about this, couldn't handle it.

When the pressure around her wrists increased, not enough to hurt, but enough to get her attention, she opened her eyes again.

"Unless you're blindfolded, never take your eyes off your attacker."

"Stop it," she choked out on a near sob, finally finding her voice.

"Stop _me_," he countered. "They say there's some instances where you shouldn't put up a fight, like a mugging. This asshole doesn't want your money, Lulu. He wants to take your life, so you need to fight. But you understand this. You don't fight to win, you fight to get the hell away. Nothing more, nothing less. If your back is to him, use your legs if you can to kick back, aim for the shins or knees. Or throw your head back as hard as you can and try to hit as close to the nose as possible."

She suddenly found herself being flipped around so she was now facing him, her back to the wall, her wrists now pinned above her head. She found herself really getting a good luck at Dante for the first time since he barged in to teach her her so-called "lesson". His eyes looked different, disturbed, possessed with emotion. What emotion though she couldn't name. Whatever happened tonight to bring this on wasn't good.

"If you're facing him, try to bring your knee up to hit him in the groin. Use _any_ available body part as a weapon. You're pissed at me. I can tell. That's what I wanted. So now do something about it."

She _was _pissed. This somehow felt like a….betrayal…using her fear against her. It hurt. Way more than she would have ever expected. But she shook her head. "No."

Frustration crossed over the hard, unyielding features of his face. "Goddamnit! Lulu, this isn't a game. He's trying to kill you. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. But if something happened to me or to Lucky doing that, I need to know you'd fight like hell."

She looked at him in a mixture of horror and anger. Horror at the thought of anything happening to either Dante or her brother. Anger that he just didn't get it. "Go. To. Hell. You're not _him_. I don't want to hurt _you_. Though you're doing a pretty job of hurting _me_ right now."

Instantly his entire demeanor changed. She found her hands suddenly released and she resisted the urge to wrap her arms around herself in self-preservation, instead letting them hang awkwardly at her sides. He looked as if she had punched him, looked as if he hated himself. "God, Lulu. The last thing I'd ever want to do is hurt you. In any way."

His sincerity had her feeling raw. She wanted to hate him for what he did to her tonight, no matter his intentions. But the unguarded emotions and vulnerability flashing across his face as his eyes searched hers were nearly her undoing. She felt ripped open and exposed emotionally and as much as she tried to fight it, she felt a tear slide down her cheek. Dante looked even more pained.

"I didn't…" He took a breath, shook his head. "I just wanted to…" Another pause as his voice trailed off.

The air around them suddenly began to feel thick and Lulu was more aware than ever of his close proximity, his body still pressed gently against hers, his face so close she could feel his breath.

"Fuck," he muttered and just like she found her cheeks being cupped by his palms as his mouth crashed down on top of hers. A shocked gasp at the instant heat she felt was all she could manage. The hands that had gone up to push him away instead clasped tightly onto his shirt. Their eyes, still open, locked on one another.

"Open for me," he breathed against her lips but his tone left no doubt that it wasn't a request. Helpless, her lips parted and he took advantage. His tongue licked briefly at her lower lip before slipping inside of her mouth, eliciting a small whimper from Lulu's throat as her lids closed. His hands slid up higher to fist in her damp hair as his tongue caressed every inch of her mouth. He stepped forward until she was almost flush against him, her breasts pressed against his chest. She immediately felt her nipples tighten through the thin material of her camisole followed by the swelling of his erection against her belly. Lower. She wanted it lower. Her stomach tightened, her core ached, she could feel herself grow wet. Her tongue hesitantly rubbed against his and he seemed to let out a low growl against her lips before he took the kiss to an even higher level, if that was even possible. God, her whole body felt like it was on fire. When she felt his lips pull away from hers, her eyes fluttered open, watched as he used his grip in her hair to tilt her head to the side, move his mouth to trail wet kisses along her cheek, on her chin, and then to settle against her neck. His breath was hot, so hot, and when his tongue pressed against the pulse throbbing rapidly in her neck, she shuddered.

Slowly he made his way back up and over to her lips, but he didn't kiss her again. Her breathing came out fast and shallow, matched his. The intensity in his eyes penetrated straight to her soul. This was insanity. He dropped his forehead lightly against her own as his fingers brushed over her face, the gentleness of his touch stroking her passion even more. He moved his hands down lower, thumbs sliding over her nipples which hardened even more painfully beneath the cami. Even though her lids were heavy with desire, she couldn't tear her gaze away. His eyes were focused, determined, filled with what looked like hunger. He gripped her waist, pulled her forward so her middle was rubbing against his straining erection.

"Dante," she moaned.

Suddenly she felt his hands slide around to her back, slip beneath the waistband of her pants and move down to cup the bare skin of her ass. She gasped as he thrust her up higher against the wall and moved in between her legs.

"Wrap your legs around me," he whispered hoarsely and she could do nothing but obey, the movement pushing his cock directly against the area that was throbbing to take him. She cursed the barrier of their clothing. His lips captured hers in another kiss and she ran her hands through his hair. All she cared about at that moment was how good it felt to be touched like this, touched by him. She instinctively ground herself against his erection.

* * *

Dante groaned harshly as Lulu rubbed herself against him. He could come like this, he realized. Could make her come like this. She felt so damn good, was so damn responsive. He was out of control, his body reacting with mindless need. Everything in him was roaring to take her, to rip her clothes away from her body and feel himself pounding inside of her. He lost it as soon as his hands came into contact with the smooth bare skin of her ass, realizing she hadn't even been wearing panties. A dim part of his mind realized he had lost it long before that.

Suddenly he flashed back to the station, the crime scene photos, the letter. He froze, passion being extinguished with ice cold pricks of reality. In turn both horrified and disgusted with himself, he gently slid her back down to the floor and put distance between them. He ran a hand through his hair, blew out a frustrated breath. Lulu was still breathing hard as she looked at him with confusion and uncertainty. But he'd take that over the look of pain and betrayal she had on her face earlier. God, what in the hell had he been thinking? _He wasn't_. That was the problem. He let his emotions get the best of him. It had been a reckless and dangerous decision in an effort to make a point and test Lulu's ability to defend herself…and he felt like a fucking asshole.

He shook his head and cursed. "Shit."

Lulu took a hesitant step forward. "What? What is it?" Her voice was a little shaky.

"I didn't come here for this."

She didn't pretend she didn't know what he meant by _this_. "No. You came here to teach me a lesson," the last word reflecting unconcealed bitterness.

Staring at her with regret, he could just shake his head. "I'm so goddamn sorry, Lulu. I meant what I said before. I would never intentionally hurt you. I just lost it after – " He stopped himself. How in the hell was he supposed to tell her?

Her face softened as did her voice as she spoke next. "Let's just forget about it. You obviously haven't had a good night." She paused. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He had to do it. He had to tell her. Dread worked its way up through his system. "Lulu, I need you to sit down."

She looked at him with alarm. "Oh God. Is it Lucky? Is he hurt?"

"No," he said quickly. "No. Lucky's fine."

"Then what is it? Dante, you're freaking me out."

He walked over to where she stood, held out a hand. She stared down at it briefly before putting her own in his and letting him lead her over to the couch.

"You know Lucky and I have been working on a big case." When she nodded, he continued. "We've been trying to track a serial killer."

Her eyes widened. "A serial killer? In Port Charles?"

"There was a third victim tonight."

She looked at him in sympathy. "That's awful. Wait. Why are you telling me this? Weren't you and Lucky just telling me the other night you couldn't talk about it?"

_Just get it over with_. "Lulu, your stalker is the killer," he said gently even though his insides were anything but calm.

She reacted as if she had been slapped. A long silence filled the room before she finally shook her head. "No. No, that's not possible."

"He left a letter on the third body tonight."

He hadn't realized he had still been holding her hand until she felt him squeeze it in a death grip.

"What did it say?" When he didn't respond fast enough, she repeated it again, panic in her voice. "What did it say?"

He told her. She let out a small cry before bringing her free hand up to her mouth in a fist. "Oh, God…Why is this happening? I don't understand what I did to make – "

He brought a hand to her face, touched her softly. "You did _nothing_, Lulu. This is all on him. And he won't get away with it."

"How did they die?"

"You don't need – "

"Dante, please."

"Blood loss."

"From what?"

He sighed, dropped his hand from her face. "Lulu."

"I need to know."

"Multiple knife wounds," he said finally.

Agony twisted her face and she pulled her hand out of his. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Dante watched as she shakily rose to her feet and then rushed down the hall to the bathroom. Automatically, he followed behind. He stopped in the doorway, saw her on her knees on the floor, head over the toilet. Seeing her like this destroyed him. Without a word, he stepped over to the vanity, opening the cabinet below to get out a couple of wash cloths. He ran them under cold water and then slid to the ground next to her, pulling her hair away from her face.

"Go away," she said weakly.

"Not a chance in hell."

When she was finished, he pulled her closer to him, patting her face and forehead gently with one wash cloth and laying the other around the back of her neck. Her body shook slightly and he could tell she was trying to hold back the tears.

"Come here, sweetheart," he said tenderly, reaching for her. She didn't protest as he pulled her into his arms on the floor, one hand pressing her head down against his chest, the other circling around her back. And as she cried softly into his shirt, he just lowered his head down on top of hers and held her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Lulu? Dante?" The voice was frantic coming from outside the hallway and Lulu recognized it as her brother's immediately.

Reluctantly, she pulled out of Dante's arms just as Lucky burst into the bathroom, stopping short when he saw her and Dante on the floor.

"Did something happen? Are you okay?"

Lulu swallowed down the remaining bile in her throat, forced a nod even though she was feeling anything _but_ okay. "Just feeling a little sick." That was an understatement.

"Dante told you." Because it was an observation and not a question, Lulu didn't respond but she caught the exchange of glances between her brother and Dante. She was too tired to try to discern the meaning. When Dante stood up and held out a hand to help her to her feet, she accepted and shot him a look of gratitude. It had felt good to be held in his arms, had brought her a level of comfort she hadn't felt in a very long time, but now she was just feeling numb. When Lucky pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, whispering how scared he was, she fought off a fresh wave of tears.

"Let's go in the other room. I need to talk to you about a few things."

Lulu just nodded and let her brother lead her out of the bathroom. Her eyes met Dante's as she moved past and he let his lips move in a brief half smile, whether in encouragement, support, reassurance, she couldn't tell, but she felt some warmth bloom inside of her masking some of the bleak coldness that had been clawing its way to the surface and for that she was grateful.

Lulu found herself sitting on the couch with Lucky beside her. Weird. She hadn't even remembered sitting down in the first place. She saw a bottle of water in front of her face and she glanced up at Dante.

"Drink."

Pausing only briefly, she took the bottle from his hand, their fingers brushing lightly against one another's. She hadn't even realized how thirsty she was until she brought the water to her lips and gulped down several swallows, the cool slide of the water helping to ease the dry soreness of her throat.

"Thank you," she said to him and then grimaced a little when she saw the wet spots on his shirt from her mini-meltdown. "Sorry about your shirt."

He shrugged it off and sat down in the chair across from her. "It'll dry." He turned to Lucky. "So what did Mac say?"

"He questioned my ability to work on this case. Not that I blame him, but there's no way I'm not in this, and I told him that. We're having a debriefing tomorrow morning at eight. Feds should be here in the afternoon. Ronnie has a couple of interviews scheduled for tomorrow morning."

Lulu found herself fiddling with the cap on the water bottle, twisting it off and on, tapping it lightly against the rim. She could hear Dante and Lucky continue on their conversation for the next several minutes but had tuned out their actual words, instead reading the label affixed to the bottle over and over as if trying to memorize every word.

"Lulu." She heard her name another few times before she finally blinked her eyes and stared over at her brother.

"Sorry. I didn't hear what you said."

"They're going to want to talk to you tomorrow afternoon. You'll have to answer all of the same questions you've been asked and more. I'm sorry. I wish I could protect you from that too but we have to do whatever it takes to catch this guy."

She just nodded her head, took another sip of water. "I just don't understand. The other two murders obviously happened before I even got back to town."

"But they happened after the incident in Chicago."

"Which is why we need to look closely at anyone who knew you'd be heading back to Port Charles," Dante added.

"But it could still be someone I don't even know," Lulu insisted. Because the thought of someone she worked with closely, trusted, doing this would be too much to bear.

"It's a possibility. We're not discounting anything at this point," Dante assured her.

"In the meantime, they're going to run regular patrols by the house."

"And you need to be very careful not to tell anyone where you are except for immediate family."

"Speaking of family…do you want me to try to track down dad?" Lucky asked her.

Lulu was starting to get a headache looking from Lucky to Dante and then back again...and again. She could see why they made such great partners, they played off each other incredibly well. She wished she could appreciate it under better circumstances. Turning to her brother, she shook her head as she thought of her globetrotting father. "No. I don't want to involve him with this."

Dante cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "What we were talking about earlier…There's a couple of guys at the station who teach some self-defense classes when they're off duty. I think it would be good for you to go."

She bit down on her tongue to resist the urge to ask why he didn't just suggest that before instead of trying to force her into defending herself with him. She sighed, not wanting to go there again. And not wanting to think about what happened _after_.

"It's a good idea," Lucky agreed, obviously mistaking her sigh for reluctance. "And as much as I hate to think of my little sister handling a gun, it may be time to do some target practice at the range."

She shuddered at that thought and didn't respond. The image of holding something in her hand that had the ability to wipe out life in an instant didn't sit well with her, but another part of her mind argued that someone wanting to take her own life didn't sit well with her either. Why shouldn't she do everything in her power to make sure that didn't happen?

"Were they…" She let out a breath. "Were they raped?" She shot a brief glance at both Dante and her brother. If they were caught off guard by her sudden change of subject and question, nothing indicated so.

"There were no signs of sexual assault," Dante said softly.

She nodded, feeling a sense of relief that they didn't have to go through that. But then came an overwhelming swell of grief and guilt because three young women's lives were cut short. Dead was dead. No matter how you got there, there was no coming back. The distress she was experiencing must have been evident because both Dante and Lucky looked at her with concern and empathy. Just seeing the expressions on their faces almost caused another deluge of tears. Why was it that sometimes it was the sympathy and support shown by other people that made someone want to break down the most?

"It's my fault," she said, her breath hitching. "It's my fault they're dead."

"Stop it," Dante said harshly. "Nothing you did caused this. I already told you that."

But Lulu just shook her head. "It's because of me they were murdered. If this guy wasn't fixated on me then those women would still be alive right now."

"Lulu," Lucky began patiently. "Then it would have been three other people dead. It would have been someone else he was obsessed with. You're a victim here too."

"Did you kill those women?" Dante asked her.

"Of course not," she gaped at him.

Dante leaned forward in his chair, his eyes locking with hers. "When I graduated high school, I went to a party and one of my buddies got trashed, completely drunk off his ass. When he tried to drive himself home and I tried to get the keys away from him, he took a swing at me. Caught me off guard enough to stumble on the porch step and land me facedown on the sidewalk. He ended up driving himself into a tree." He swallowed, took a breath. "Was that my fault? If I got the keys away from him, it wouldn't have happened."

"I'm sorry," Lulu said sincerely. "Of course it wasn't your fault. He made the decision to drive drunk."

Dante raised his eyebrows at her, continued. "My first year as a cop in Brooklyn, I heard a call about a domestic disturbance come through on the radio. I was by the location so I went to check it out. I was too late. Guy killed his wife and then himself minutes before I got there. Was that my fault? What if I had gotten there five minutes earlier?"

Lulu's heart went out to him and for the situation. "Of course not. If you got there any earlier, you could have ended up dead yourself." _And I would have never met you_, she added silently.

Without addressing that, Dante went on. "When I was a freshman in high school, we had a history teacher who made our lives hell every chance he got. I knew he was obsessive about keeping his chair adjusted at the highest level so before class one day I lowered it and poured ink all over the adjustment lever. When he pulled his hand away with ink all over it, the whole class laughed. After class was over, I told him it was Tommy Russo. Guy got suspended for three days. Was that my fault?"

"Of co – " She frowned at him. "Yes. Yes, it was. Why would you do that?" She threw him what she hoped was a stern look.

Dante just smiled at her. "I think you get my point. Don't take responsibility where it's not yours. You have to get rid of the guilt, Lulu. There's only one person responsible here and we're going to bring him down, I promise you that."

She met his eyes, smiled back at him. What was it about him that made her feel better just being around him? When she turned to face Lucky, she saw him look between her and Dante in speculation. If he wanted to say something though, he had decided against it.

"Dante's right, Lulu. Stop trying to blame yourself for this. It's unfounded."

She let out a long, deep breath and nodded her head. "I just want this whole thing to be over."

"We're going to make sure that happens. It's going to be a long day tomorrow so we should all try to get what sleep we can get."

"I'm going to probably crash here for the next couple of days," Dante added. "It'll be easier being closer to the station."

Lulu didn't try to analyze the mixture of happiness and nervousness she felt about that.

* * *

It was only after she was settled in bed and had resigned herself to another mostly sleepless night that Lulu allowed herself to think back to that kiss. That kiss that turned into a whole hell of a lot more than just a kiss. When she closed her eyes, she could have sworn she still felt Dante's hands on her skin, his lips covering hers, his body molded close to her own. She would have had sex with him, she realized. She had known him for only a few short days and if he hadn't pulled back, she would have had sex with him. That should have scared her. But no, what scared her was her suspicion that she would have had no regrets if it _had_ happened. Her suspicion that Dante Falconeri had the ability to do what no other man had come close to – making her fall for him…and fall hard.


	10. Chapter 10

Note:

Thanks once again to everyone who has commented on the story. Writing a story that's not a one-shot is far outside of my comfort zone so seeing people enjoying it is definitely encouraging. I had thought about breaking this up into two different chapters but decided against it and am just posting this as a long update. I have a full-time job (and have a very demanding dog ;) ..) so it's hard for me to find a lot of time to sit down and write but if I can get another chapter out sometime this weekend I will try to do so. Hope you enjoy this one :)

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"You can't possibly consider me a suspect."

Dante lifted his lips in a humorless smile as he studied Michael Bennett. "Why not?"

"I've worked with Lulu for almost seven years now."

"So?"

Lulu's agent bristled. He'd already been in interview for forty-five minutes and so far Dante had gotten nowhere. His answers never varied, his body language remained consistent. He also waived his right to have a lawyer present.

"I'm the one who insisted the police get involved in the first place. I'm the one who kept trying to convince Lulu to cancel the tour. She's much more than just a client, Detective."

"That's exactly what I'm getting at. How much more?"

Bennett twisted his face in disgust and at least had the grace to look insulted. "Of course you would think that. I've got about 25 years on Lulu, which is also about as long as I've been very happily married to my wife. My whole family takes her out for dinner on her birthday every year. I think of Lulu _like_ a member of the family."

So he had said at least three other times during the interview. Lucky was present for about the first half hour, each of them taking turns asking questions. Dante had continued with the questioning and Lucky had moved to observation. When they had asked for his whereabouts on the dates of all the murders, he had immediately asked if something else had happened to Lulu. He had also looked genuinely worried. But Dante came across a lot of suspects who were great actors over the years. Bennett claimed to still be in Chicago at the time of the first murder, then with family for the last two. Of course, Dante had just listed dates and time ranges with no mention of any murder, hoping for some kind of slip-up or mention of something that wasn't public knowledge, but he got nothing. During the debriefing Mac held this morning, they had all agreed they were going to do their damndest to keep the connection of Lulu's stalker and the multiple murders out of the press, who had been breathing hard enough down their backs as it was. Mac had also threatened severe disciplinary action for any leaks.

In the end, Dante had told Bennett he could leave but that he should be available for further questioning. He'd check out his alibis this afternoon and go from there.

They hadn't had much more luck with Rebecca Reynolds, Lulu's editor, either.

"Wait a minute," she had stopped them about twenty minutes in. "You don't think I could have possibly had anything to do with this, do you?"

"We're questioning everyone," Lucky had responded.

"Lulu had told me what was in those first few letters and I heard about that package she received. No offense, but I don't swing that way, detectives."

"And if that's true, one could also argue that there was nothing overtly sexual either," Lucky told her pointedly.

Rebecca raised her eyebrows. "Lingerie isn't sexual?"

"Not if the purpose is to demean or intimidate," Dante challenged.

Rebecca's shoulders sagged and she sighed. "Look, Lulu's a friend. I was a freelance editor when I worked on her first manuscript. When she got offered her publishing contract, they wanted her to use one on their in-house editors. Lulu refused to sign with them unless they hired me as part of the deal. I'm making a living now because of her. I owe her. I would never do anything to hurt her. You have to believe that."

"Who _would_ want to hurt her?" Lucky asked.

"If I had any idea, I would have said something. Lulu's one of the nicest people I know. She's the last person that would deserve something like this to happen to her."

"What about anyone paying her any extra attention?" Dante questioned.

Rebecca shrugged. "We don't go out socially a lot. On the evenings of whatever days her books have been released we have a tradition of going out for drinks to celebrate. She almost always gets hit on by at least one guy. There's a couple of men in the office who have asked her out over the years."

Dante pushed aside his dislike of the idea of someone else hitting on Lulu. "What was her response?"

"She always turned them down."

_Good_, he thought to himself. "We're going to need the names of the men who asked her out."

"Fine."

"Is there anything else you can think of that will help us?" Lucky asked her.

Shaking her head, Rebecca wrote down a couple of names on the piece of paper Dante slid her way. "If I do, I will let you know. I hope you find whoever's doing this, detectives. But it's not me."

Dante wasn't expecting to have things wrapped up with a shiny fucking bow reading "Case Closed" after only the first couple of interviews but the frustration of no evidence combined with very few strong leads beat at him. He wanted to be able to give Lulu peace of mind but nothing about this case so far screamed easy. He was in progress of checking out Michael Bennett's and Rebecca Reynolds's alibis and had already contacted the names of the men Rebecca had provided. He had to leave messages with both of them. Reaching into his desk he grabbed a bottle of aspirin and popped two of them in his mouth. Damn headache felt like someone was pounding at his skull from the inside. He needed coffee. He headed over to the machine glancing down at his and Lucky's notes from the interviews…and ran into Lulu – literally. His eyes shot up, saw her stumble, and he automatically slid his free arm around her waist to hold her steady, the action bringing her closer to him. Her eyes widened a little bit.

"Shit. Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I really wasn't watching where I was going either."

Was it just him or did she sound a little short of breath? His eyes took in the sight of her, felt that same uncomfortable kick to the gut he had experienced all the other times he laid his eyes on her. He tried to convince himself it was just because he was worried about her. So maybe she was sexy as hell too, even dressed in something as simple as dark jeans and a purple top. But the logical part of his mind kept telling himself he couldn't afford to be distracted. That same logical part also knew it would be a losing battle. Had been since that moment she was pressed up against him responding to him in a way no other woman had even come close to. And if he was being honest, it went the other way too. He wanted her. Bad. The question was, what in the hell was he going to do about it?

"Um…You can let go of me now."

"I know." Dante smiled at her, but still didn't move his arm. She looked a little flustered but smiled back at him. He had a sudden thought that she could probably make him do anything by flashing that smile. And because that had him freaking out a little bit, he smoothly brought his arm back around to his side and stepped back.

"When's your interview?"

Lulu glanced down at her watch. "About five minutes."

"I have to follow up on some things but I know Lucky's planning on sitting in."

She seemed to study him. "Are _you_ okay?"

"With you standing in front of me, how can I be anything but?" he said with a wink. "Good luck. I'll see you later."

He strode past without giving her a chance to respond, the words "losing battle" echoing in his mind.

* * *

Lulu glanced over at the clock. Just before midnight. She had been trying to fall asleep for over an hour now. She barely held it together with Mac, Lucky, and the two FBI agents who had questioned her. It should have been easier going over everything again but it ended up just feeling like she was reliving it for the entire two plus hours she spent answering their questions. She barely even touched any of her dinner, her gently rumbling stomach a reminder of that. Sighing, she got up to use the bathroom and then resisted the urge to walk out to the living room to see if Dante was there. He hadn't been before she headed to bed to try to get some sleep. Lucky had just said he was staying late to finish some reports and then had to make a trip back to his apartment to take care of a few things and that he had given him a key to make it easier. Maybe he just decided to sleep at his own place after all. And why should that disappoint her? She heard Lucky's bedroom door close about a half hour ago so she hoped at least he was getting some sleep.

No sooner had she sat on the edge of her bed when there was a soft knock at the halfway open door. She looked up and saw Dante peek his head in, felt her heart slam almost painfully hard against her rib cage.

"Hey. Heard you up."

All she could do was nod.

"You and me. Date on the couch in two minutes."

With that he was gone. She let out a slow breath.

Lord help her.

She walked into the living room, her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. The couch was empty. She frowned and then jumped slightly when she heard Dante's voice to her left, watched as he walked out of the kitchen. He was wearing a pair of black lounge pants…and no shirt again damn it. Her eyes settled on his perfectly muscled, perfectly smooth chest, then down lower. Something dangerously close to longing settled in her stomach. She bit down on her lower lip and dragged her eyes up to meet his. The almost smug look on his face telling her he knew exactly what she was thinking…and exactly what he was doing to her. _Okay, pull yourself together_, she ordered herself. But then deciding to give him a little taste of his own medicine, she threw him what she hoped was a slow, sexy smile, letting the tip of her tongue touch her lower lip before she settled on the couch, tucking her bare legs beneath her, knowing the action caused her pajama shorts to run a little higher up her thighs.

"What's behind your back, Detective?"

His smile faltered a little and a wave a satisfaction ran through her at the noticeable rise and fall of his Adam's apple. He recovered quickly and brought his hands forward, a carton of ice cream in one hand and two spoons in the other.

"Lucky told me you had a rough time in interview."

She was the one who faltered this time. And cursed the little bit of melting her heart seemed to do. _Damn it_, she thought again. Just when she thought she had caught up with whatever game of underlying sexual tension they had been playing, he would do something sweet and disarm her completely.

He sat down close beside her on the couch. He pulled the lid off the ice cream and set it on the table, turned himself so he was facing her.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked holding out a spoon.

Taking it, she shook her head. "Not really."

They both dipped their spoons in at the same time, took a bite, and seemed to study each other. "When was the last time you actually slept through the night?"

"Probably a couple of months," Lulu shrugged.

"You should try some of the over-the-counter stuff. Even if it will help to just take the edge off. You'll make yourself sick if you don't get some good sleep consistently."

Lulu brought more ice cream to her lips, let it melt in her mouth slowly before it slid down her throat. "It's just been hard to feel…safe," she finished. "But it helps being back in Port Charles."

"You missed it."

"It's home," she said simply. "Always will be." She paused. "What about you? Do you miss Bensonhurst?"

Dante twirled his spoon around in the ice cream before meeting her eyes. "Port Charles is feeling more like home every day."

Why she should feel ridiculously pleased by that, she didn't know.

Time passed in easy conversation. She asked more about Bensonhurst, he asked about her books. When they had finished off the ice cream, Lulu set the empty carton down on the table. She studied the tattoos on each of his arms and his chest and gestured to them with her hand.

"Any special meaning?"

He explained how he came up with a couple of the designs, how the bull represented the Taurus symbol.

"I like them."

"I think you just like looking at my body," he grinned.

She felt her cheeks heat a little but she grinned back. "There is that."

"Anytime you want to look, sweetheart, all you have to do is ask. Touching is also allowed. In fact," his voice lowered. "I just may beg for it."

She laughed even though a wave of liquid heat having nothing to do with humor flowed through her. Why did she have the feeling that when all was said and done, she would be the one begging for it?

She couldn't stifle the yawn the crept out.

"Ouch," he said on a laugh but his tone was teasing.

"Sorry," she said apologetically.

He reached out, gently touched her hair. "Go get some sleep, Lulu."

She sighed. "Underneath all the flirting and innuendos, you really are kind of a gentleman, aren't you?"

He gave her an odd look she couldn't discern and she threw him one last smile before standing up. She had turned her back to start walking to her room when his voice stopped her.

"Lulu."

She turned around to face him. He had stood up and was headed towards her. She had no warning. He grabbed her hand and tugged her forward until she practically crashed against his chest. His lips descended and captured hers, his tongue gaining easy entrance into her mouth. He let go of her hand so he could bring his up and cup the back of her head, urging her deeper into the kiss and demanding a response. His other hand slid around to her back, then down to settle on her ass. He squeezed and she moaned. Instantly, she felt herself grow wet. Helplessly, she gripped his upper arms for support.

He pulled back suddenly. Her eyes fluttered open, struggled to focus.

"I'm not a gentleman in everything, Lulu." His voice was low with a note of huskiness…and warning.

_God, she hoped not._

_

* * *

_Dante watched in satisfaction as Lulu stared at him with a dazed expression on her face. Her hands had dropped to her sides and she was breathing hard. Just like his cock was straining painfully hard through his pants. It gave another jerk when she lifted her fingers to touch her mouth for a fleeting instant. He fought back a groan. He had to get inside her…soon. One small taste of her was not enough.

Expecting her to retreat, he was more than caught off guard when instead she virtually launched herself at him, grabbing his face with her hands and pulling his mouth back down on top of hers, their lips molding together. He did groan then, could feel the stab of her nipples against his chest even through her tank top. He wanted them in his mouth. She nipped at his lower lip and then sucked his tongue into her mouth. _Jesus_. No doubt who was in charge of this one.

It was she who pulled back suddenly now, stepped away from him. They both took a moment to struggle for breath.

"Good," Lulu finally said, turning on her heels and walking away. He stared after her until she disappeared from view, hearing the door to her bedroom door close.

He sank down onto the couch. What. The. Hell?

_Battle lost._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

He was avoiding her.

Well, no, that wasn't entirely true, Lulu reflected. He was just avoiding being _alone_ with her. For the past five days. Ever since their "date." It both amused her and pissed her off. He was such a contradiction – a cross between an alpha sex-on-legs male and a sweet, compassionate guy who brought her ice cream and held her hair back while she threw up for God's sake. She never felt so off-balance in her life.

She scowled and stabbed at the eggs on her plate.

"You okay?"

She glanced up at her brother's raised eyebrows. "I'm fine."

"Hmm."

She went back to work on attacking her eggs. Dante hadn't stayed over at Lucky's since that night. She had seen him at the station three times and he had been over to have dinner with her and Lucky twice, but that was it. Each time he was perfectly…cordial to her. _Cordial_, she scoffed. She didn't want cordial.

The one positive of the past few days was there had been no new note, no other body. No other leads apparently either, but she was trying not to dwell on that. This bastard had her living in fear for months and she wanted her life back.

Not that there weren't daily reminders that her life was far from normal – the regular patrols by the house, Lucky not wanting her to go anywhere alone, the follow-up questions from the FBI. She had taken her first self-defense class a couple of nights ago and was actually looking forward to the next one. Foolishly, she had hoped Dante would show and felt let down when that didn't happen.

"So. What's going on with you and Dante?"

Her fork paused mid-strike. She lifted her eyes to her brother. "Nothing," she said slowly, carefully. Which was true enough. She just hoped her face said the same.

"Hmm."

She glared. "Do you have something to say?"

"Are you going to stop using your fork as a weapon?"

Lulu let her fork fall down on her plate with a loud clang.

"Jesus. You're just as surly as he's been."

She took a deep breath. Damn it, she was so on edge. And acting childish, she grudgingly admitted to herself. Even though it _was_ all Dante's fault.

"Did he hurt you?"

"Hardly," she muttered. No, she had believed him when he said he wouldn't ever hurt her intentionally. Drive her crazy, make her want him, and be infuriating all at the same time, on the other hand…

"You like him."

Lulu's mouth opened slightly as she stared at her brother in a mixture of disbelief and horror. "Wow. Are you really trying to have a conversation about my love life?"

Lucky's face was a perfect picture of extreme discomfort.

"Because if you want to talk about you and Maxie—"

Lucky practically squirmed. "Point taken."

"Good."

"But," Lucky started and Lulu looked up at him in dread. "You're my sister, and I love you. I'll support whatever makes you happy." He paused. "But I'll also destroy whoever hurts you."

Lulu smiled. "I love you, too."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Well…Now that we're done with that, you ready to go?"

He was dropping her off at the shooting range the police department used for an introductory class on gun safety she was supposed to attend before taking actual target practice. At least she wouldn't actually have to fire a gun today. She was still trying to deal with her anxiety over that.

"I guess so."

"I've got to run back to the station for a meeting but I'll pick you up when your class lets out."

* * *

Dante tapped his pen against his desk as he read over the notes from the police reports and interviews for at least the fifth time in the past hour. He gulped down some coffee and stared at Lucky, who was sitting across from him.

"I just feel like we're missing something."

"Did you hear back from the two guys at the publishing company?"

"Finally," Dante grumbled. "Bastards. They're coming in day after tomorrow."

Everyone they had interviewed so far had alibis that weren't airtight but that weren't full of holes either. He had checked, double-checked, and triple-checked. Nobody had been ruled out yet, but they didn't have a main suspect either and that irritated the hell out of him. His tapping got louder.

"So. What's going on with you and my sister?"

Dante's pen stopped mid-tap. "Not a thing," he said with forced casualness.

"Hmm. You've been acting differently around each other the past few days," Lucky observed.

_Wasn't that the truth_, Dante thought to himself. He was used to being the one calling the shots with women. He had been honest with Lulu when he told her he wasn't good at relationships. He never went out with a woman more than a few times because he had no desire to do so. He felt no more and no less than what he wanted to. He didn't have that control with Lulu. Last week was eye-opening proof of that. He was feeling way more than what was in his comfort zone, and each time he saw her he felt like he was sinking a little further. _Into what?_ That's what scared him.

When Dante didn't respond, Lucky continued. "I need to know you're thinking with your head here."

"Of course I am." _Too damn much_.

"The one above your belt."

Dante narrowed his eyes at Lucky and could feel the muscle in his jaw tic with anger, his fist clench. "Fuck you," he practically growled. "It's not like that."

A long, tense silence settled between them before Lucky finally broke out into a smile. _What the hell?_

"Right answer."

Dante resisted the urge to wipe the smile off Lucky's face with his fist.

"Lulu's at the beginner's gun safety class at the range. It lets out in an hour."

"She's there alone?"

If Lucky picked up on the disapproval in his voice, he didn't comment. "I dropped her off earlier. She's not firing any rounds yet so it wasn't necessary to stay. Plus, the instructor's a retired cop who still consults on cases for us. He's been made aware of the situation." He paused. "I'd appreciate it if you could pick her up."

Dante looked at Lucky in suspicion but nodded. "Sure."

He slowly rose from his desk, started to head out, but stopped when Lucky said his name.

"If you hurt her, I'll be personally sending you back to Bensonhurst. And at least one part of you won't be intact."

Dante grinned.

* * *

Lulu walked out of the classroom after three hours of being inundated with information. She knew how to properly load a gun, the best stance to use when firing, how to engage and disengage the safety mechanism, the best way to lock on a target, and a multitude of other things. But she still wasn't sure she was ready to actually fire a gun for real.

She stopped short when she saw Dante leaning against the wall on the other side of the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest. She expected the familiar kick of her heart in her chest and wasn't disappointed. The man was too sexy for his, and her, own good. She forced her feet to move and stepped in front of him, crossing her own arms over her chest to match his stance.

"What are you doing here?"

"Lucky got caught up in a few things at the station. He asked me to come and get you."

"Hmm." She spared him one last look before walking past him to the storage locker area so she could grab her purse. She was unsurprised that he followed her into the room. When she shut the locker and turned back around, she sucked in a small breath. He had moved to within a foot of her. Awareness permeated the air around them, became something tangible. Okay, she told herself. Something had to give here. Someone.

"Are you sure you can handle being so close to me?" She took an almost imperceptible step forward. "You've done a great job of avoiding that for a few days now." His face was unreadable but his body was noticeably tense.

"Because do you want to know what I think?" Lulu continued. "I think you're a coward."

His eyes flared. "Don't push me, Lulu."

Oh, but she wanted to. Just to see how far she could.

She reached up and undid the first three buttons of her shirt, enough to show the curves of her breasts above the lacy material of her bra. She heard Dante draw a ragged breath as his eyes moved down to the skin she had exposed.

"You don't know what to do when someone turns the tables on you, do you? You want me. Admit it."

She could tell he was losing whatever battle was raging inside him.

"Do you have any fucking idea what you do to me?" he gritted out.

"Yes," she answered honestly, excitement racing through her blood. "Because it's what you're doing to me." She paused, braced herself for what she hoped would be her last push. "But I think you're all talk and no action."

Whatever she had been stoking had ignited almost immediately. She felt a momentary burst of triumph, then found herself caged within seconds, his arms braced against the lockers on each side of her body. Her heart was pounding hard and fast.

"Don't forget that you asked for it." His eyes were wild, his voice rough. But she wasn't scared of him. She could smell the subtle, masculine scent of his skin as he leaned in closer. She wanted to reach out with her tongue and taste him.

Just as his mouth was about to settle over hers, she heard a door swing open. Realization of her surroundings hit her as she heard the clearing of a throat. Her eyes closed for a moment, not in embarrassment but in frustration. Before she had time to react, she felt Dante grab her hand and start pulling her out of the room. She barely saw the wide-eyed expression of the man who had walked in.

Dante didn't release her hand until he opened the passenger side door of his car. Didn't say a word as they both buckled up and he started driving. Not until she started to button the loose buttons of her shirt.

"Don't."

_Ohh-kay._

She looked over at him as he passed the exit to Lucky's house. "You missed the exit."

"No, I didn't."

"So where are we going?" she finally asked when he didn't elaborate.

"My place." He threw her a heated look that had her whole body responding before focusing his attention back on the road. "You wanted action, sweetheart, you're going to get action."


	12. Chapter 12

Note:

All of the comments are overwhelming. Thank you so much for the feedback. I tried to get this one done as fast as I could for you guys. It's been a crazy week. I am going to be a first-time aunt in likely no more than 1-2 weeks so not sure what that'll do for my writing time (I don't write fast as it is). I guess I should say that this chapter isn't for the faint of heart so fair warning. This is dedicated to a couple of my buds (you know who you are) but I hope everyone enjoys this one and it isn't a let down. Thanks again for all the wonderful comments!

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Dante was well aware he had moved beyond the point of sanity, had only just enough control to keep from taking Lulu right in the elevator on the way up to his loft. So he kept his distance, pressed himself up against the wall as far away from her as possible. He didn't take his eyes off her though. Couldn't even if he wanted to. She kept her eyes on him too. They held the same look of challenge that drove him to the breaking point back in the locker room.

Not once had Dante ever brought a woman back to his place. He hadn't been with anyone in the couple of months he'd lived in Port Charles, but even back in Bensonhurst it was a principle he never swayed from. He also never disrespected women or led them on, his mother would have had him knocked on his ass so fast if he had so much as attempted to do so. No, he always made it clear that it was just sex, that he had no desire for any kind of strings or a relationship. His previous partners had felt the same, and if got the impression they wanted more, he wished them well and walked away before damage was done.

But now, thinking about any of his previous partners brought distaste to his mouth. And he didn't even think about giving his "just sex" disclaimer to Lulu, which he suspected contributed to the sense of panic he was starting to feel that this was the first time it just may be more than that.

When the elevator opened, Dante gestured for her to exit first. She took a few steps into the room and then turned back around to face him. Need for her was instantaneous, consumed him.

He took his time walking over to her, in contrast with the racing of his heart, and reached out with one hand to touch the bare skin of her upper breast above her bra that was still slightly exposed from her partially unbuttoned shirt. He wondered if she knew how completely sexy she was standing there like that, if she knew how hard he was as she leaned slightly forward into his touch. Her eyes glanced downwards to watch his hand as it traced from one side of her chest to the other, then down the length of her shirt until he gripped the hem and gave it a hard tug before stepping back away from her entirely.

"Take it off."

It was an order, plain and simple. Her eyes shot up and for the first time he saw hesitation there. But she reached up and started to unbutton the next few buttons.

"Slower." He heard her release an audible breath but she did as he commanded, even though her hands were shaking slightly. He ached to put his hands on her but he held himself back..barely. Instead he watched with increasing pain to his groin as she undid the last button and very slowly slipped the shirt off her shoulders sending it drifting down to the floor. She took his breath away. His eyes took in her pale, delicate skin, the black lacy bra that generously displayed her gorgeous breasts. He could see a tease of her nipples through the semi-sheer material of the cups and he felt his mouth go dry.

"You are so fucking beautiful."

The look of shyness combined with pleasure at his words brought an unexpected wave of tenderness through him followed by an almost primal urge screaming inside of him to claim possession. He felt like his control was an almost-empty hourglass with his remaining grips on it slowly dwindling away to nothing.

* * *

_What had she gotten herself into?_

She had meant to push him, but she didn't think she was expecting _this_. Or maybe she was. She had accepted that they would get to this point eventually. It was just that eventually was suddenly…now. She had never made any rush judgment to jump into bed with a man before. In fact, she had slept with only two other men and she certainly didn't do so within less than two weeks of knowing them. Why was Dante so different? But then she guessed that a part of her knew. He made her wants things she never wanted before. And the way he was looking at her now, like he wanted to eat her alive, no other man ever looked at her that way. She felt so totally out of her league, but helpless to stop her free fall into the unknown.

He approached her, stopping only a couple of steps away, his chest almost touching hers, his thighs almost brushing up against hers. She had to tell herself to breathe.

He leaned forward as if to kiss her but then he moved his mouth to the left, touched it against her ear and let his tongue trace her lobe.

"I'm going to make love to you," he whispered into her ear, causing an involuntary shiver to run through her body. He moved over to her other ear, let his tongue trace the same movements, only this time he bit down on her lobe. "I'm going to fuck you."

Her nipples were hardened peaks under the confining material of her bra, her sex clenched…hard. Good God, she shouldn't be turned on by that...should she? Oh, but she was. She was practically flooding and he hadn't even kissed her yet.

He brought his face to hers so his lips were literally a breath away. "I'm going to be so deep inside you, make you come so hard, you'll feel me for weeks."

She let out a single noise that was a cross between a moan and a whimper. She was having trouble putting together even one coherent thought.

"You told me I was all talk and no action." She felt his hands at her waist, felt the button to her pants being undone, the sound of the zipper working its way down. "But I think my words make you…" He slipped his hand underneath her panties, slid one finger inside of her. She gasped. "Wet."

He did kiss her then and she moaned into his mouth as his lips took possession. Her eyes shut as she gave herself over to him. His tongue urged her lips open, as if they needed urging, rubbed seductively against hers. He left no part of her mouth untouched, unexplored. As he moved his tongue in a thrusting motion inside her mouth, he added a second finger inside her sex, pushed a little deeper. Lulu clenched around him and moaned again. She rocked against his hand and felt her knees go weak. This was nothing less than a full-on assault of her senses. She had to clutch his waist for support. As if sensing that, Dante slowly started backing her further into the apartment, his mouth never leaving hers, his fingers staying inside of her until she felt her knees hit the back of the bed. She practically collapsed down on top of it. Dante's fingers slipped out of her, his mouth broke free from her lips, and she groaned at the loss of contact.

His eyes were burning deep into hers, seemed to be lighting a fire from the inside out. Her whole body ached, throbbed with need. For him. Only him. He reached behind her back and deftly unsnapped her bra, slid the straps down her shoulders and then threw the garment off to the side. His eyes flared as he took in every inch of skin exposed. She felt self-conscious but she couldn't bring herself to turn away. He seemed to breathe almost in reverence as his hands reached out to cup the weight of her breasts in his palms. She bit down on her lip as his thumbs swept over her stiff nipples until they couldn't possibly get any harder. Longing like she'd never known filled every fiber of her being. When he lowered his head and ran his tongue in circles around one nipple, she felt another rush of liquid arousal. The throbbing increased and she cried out when his teeth gently bit down. Her hands automatically moved up to thread in his hair, urging him on as he moved to the other breast, repeated the same actions. He pulled back and she saw the same heat, the same passion, in his eyes that she was sure was mirrored in her own.

His hands stroked over her stomach, his mouth took hers in another kiss. She could have sworn she felt her toes curl. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Lift up," he ordered when his hands made their way down to her hips, gripped her pants. Once again, she was helpless to do anything but obey as she raised herself up off the bed and he slid both her pants and panties down her legs in one smooth motion. She helped to kick them away along with her shoes and then jerked in shock when she felt his lips settle over her sex, his tongue stabbing deep into her wet slit. Her hands grabbed onto his hair, pulling at his scalp. She vaguely saw him wince, heard him groan, but she didn't care. Could only feel. And he was making her feel amazing.

"Dante, please!" she cried out almost hoarsely, finally finding her voice. Her stomach tightened and as his tongue teased around her clit, she could feel herself on the edge of orgasm. To give himself better access, he spread her legs wide then lifted one thigh to rest over his shoulder.

"Do you want me to make you come?" he asked. She could feel his warm breath against her and it only drove her higher, made her shiver with need.

She managed to nod her head as she looked at him through hooded lids. "Please…"

"Please what?"

She moaned in frustration, wanted to curse him, but was too far gone. "Please…please make me come."

Her hips bucked against his mouth as his teeth stroked over her clit and then he sucked the swollen bud into his mouth sending her spiraling into the most intense orgasm she had ever experienced, her whole body shook with it and she cried out his name as her thighs clenched around his head. He dragged his head back up her body, kissed her again. She could taste herself on him and she never thought that would be a turn on but she ended up being shocked at the fresh burst of arousal shooting through her. He was going to kill her.

"So fucking sexy," he murmured gruffly, pulling back. Only when he started to unbutton his shirt did she realize he was still fully clothed. He seemed to remove it in record time and she had to admire the perfection of his chest, even the way the chains he wore around his neck gently swayed against his skin with his movements aroused her. She had it bad. Her breath held in anticipation as his hands moved to his jeans, she watched the button slide through its loop, saw Dante's hand practically jerk down his zipper, shove the pants down his hips, his legs, until they pooled at his feet and he stepped out of them. She could see the bulge of his erection tenting his boxers. She had the sudden wish that she was the one who was removing his clothes. As his boxers slid down his legs and revealed his impressive cock jutting up towards his midsection, Lulu couldn't hold back her moan. Her core, still experiencing small aftershocks from her previous release, clenched in renewed desire.

She reached forward and placed her hands on his hips, urging him to step between her legs. Her hands ran over his chest, his nipples, his stomach. She could feel his muscles ripple under her palms. If there was a man who was the definition of beautiful, he was standing before her. And for the moment anyway, he was all hers. He was staring down at her, shooting her that same intense look that made her want to melt in a puddle at his feet. Her hand dipped lower, touched the smooth yet hard skin of his cock. He jerked almost violently, she heard him mutter a curse under his breath. He gently pulled her hand away.

"Jesus. I'm not going to last. I need to be inside of you." His words were said roughly and she allowed herself a bit of feminine pride that she was obviously affecting him in the same way he was affecting her.

She suddenly found herself being dragged up the bed, Dante coming over on top of her, felt his cock nudging at her slick heat. And then he was balls deep inside of her in one hard thrust. Despite how wet she was, she winced just a little bit. It had been over a year since she last had sex and she was still sensitive from her earlier orgasm.

"Fuck," he ground out. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. So tight." He must have caught sight of her momentary discomfort because he kept himself stilled inside of her despite the obvious effort to do so, his arms braced on either side of her, muscles bulging, sweat breaking out on his forehead, which he bent down to rest against hers. The discomfort had passed almost as quickly as it came and she was left feeling so incredibly full, so incredibly stretched. She shifted underneath him, spreading her legs wider, urging him to move. His mouth covered hers and he started to move inside of her. God, she could kiss him forever.

She ran her hands up and down his back. She could tell he was restraining himself so she broke the kiss, met his eyes. "Don't. Don't hold back," she ordered. And then she could speak no more. He thrust hard and deep, over and over. Her nails scored his back as his hips pistoned against her and she rose to meet him, wrapping her legs around his waist to draw him in as deep as possible. Each thrust had her nipples rubbing against his chest. The sensations throughout her body unlike any she had ever experienced before. She felt the telltale signs of her impending orgasm. She was dimly cognizant of the sounds of flesh against flesh, panting breaths, throaty moans. He felt so damn good inside her.

"Now," he groaned against where his lips were now pressed against her neck. "Come with me now."

That was all she needed before she was clenching and spasming around him just as he shot inside of her, she crying out his name as he shouted out hers, both their orgasms seeming to go on and on and on. And she thought her earlier orgasm was the most intense she had ever had. With one last long drawn out groan, he collapsed against her chest. She couldn't find her breath, couldn't find her voice. Only had the knowledge that she didn't think she would ever, ever be the same.


	13. Chapter 13

Note:

You guys are awesome. That is all =)

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Shaken.

Straight to his soul. No other way to describe it.

He was collapsed over her as if it was the most natural place to be, his cock still inside of her, his head buried in her neck, his arms braced on either side of her head in an effort to keep all of his weight from crushing her. He could feel the steady rise and fall of her chest against his.

This was the part where he typically made his escape. But he had no desire to move. Instead, he lifted his head and looked down at Lulu. Her hair was fanned out on the pillow beneath her head with a few stray strands falling across her closed eyes. He tried to think if he had experienced anything even remotely close to what he felt being with her and the answer was an immediate no. He had never bothered much with words during sex, had never experienced such a dominant need to possess, to touch, and to taste like he did with Lulu. Remembering how she came apart against his mouth flashed him back to just how good she did taste against his tongue. He could feel himself start to harden again inside of her and her eyes opened in surprise. One of his hands gently brushed the hair away from her eyes.

"I want you again," he murmured.

"Mmm," she smiled slowly. "You recover fast."

Which surprised him, too, considering he had never had such a mind-blowing orgasm before – …His thoughts cut off abruptly and he froze, realization slamming him in the face. He let loose a curse that had Lulu looking at him with both uncertainty and concern.

"What's wrong?"

When he pulled out of her completely, he could see on her face the moment she realized it too.

"No condom." He paused, horrified at himself. "Shit. I'm sorry, Lulu –"

She cut him off by lifting her fingers to his lips. "It's okay."

"It's not okay, I shouldn't have –"

"I'm, uh…on the pill." Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink and he found himself momentarily distracted by how endearing that small little blush was.

"I was irresponsible," he finally said. His eyes sought out hers. "I swear to you, Lulu. Not once in my life have I ever _not_…well, suited up. I'm clean. I can get – "

She cut him off again. "Dante, stop. I believe you." He could see in her expression as she stared at him intently, her fingers still resting near the corner of his lips, that she did. He expelled a breath of relief. "I trust you," she added, and he felt so utterly humbled he couldn't seem to find any words. He showed her instead, his lips brushing over hers…once, twice, so softly they barely touched. He gradually increased pressure, took the kiss deeper, and neither could seem to break eye contact. His erection lay against her upper thigh, her hands had moved to frame his face just as his had done to hers even though it caused the full weight of his body to fall back down against hers. She didn't protest. Sighing, their mouths broke contact, their breathing in unison. She looked a little dazed as she stared up at him. His heart constricted…and he was absolutely scared to death.

She seemed to sense the change in him, a light smile suddenly lifting her lips. "I could use a drink of water." She was giving him a chance to retreat, he knew. He felt like a coward for taking it.

When he came back to the bed carrying two bottles of water, she had her cell phone out, punching a few buttons and then setting it on the nightstand. "Texting Lucky that I'll be home later."

She was sitting up with her back resting against the top of the bed. She had brought the sheets up to cover her breasts but they had already started to drift lower, tempting him with the gentle swells he had held in his hands, taken in his mouth, not too long before. _Would he ever get enough of this woman?_

As he sat down beside her on the bed, not bothering to cover himself up, she gave him another one of those knowing looks.

She took one of the bottles from him, opening the cap and taking a drink. "Look, Dante. Let's not label this, okay? Or worry about labeling it. We can just…enjoy each other."

That sounded suspiciously like his "just sex" disclaimer, only a lot more subtle, and he was left feeling oddly…empty. But he kept silent. If there were any right words to say, nothing came to him. He sure as hell couldn't put into words what he was feeling.

"You're brooding," she said with a half smile.

He forced a smile, willing the uneasiness in his stomach to go away. He didn't deserve her understanding. He gulped down some water and then was hit with a jolt of lust as she set down her water bottle, the sheet falling to her waist, baring her chest completely. This time he gulped air. She threw him a deliberately sultry look as she moved to straddle his stomach. His eyes clouded, his lips parted. She set aside his water bottle and leaned forward, her hair brushing against his chest, causing him to inhale sharply.

"You know," she started. "You neglected to mention the other meaning of that tattoo," she said nodding with her head towards the marking on his left arm. He glanced down and then back at her in confusion.

She smiled, a little bit naughty. She brought her mouth down to his. "Hung like a…." She tapped the bull design lightly on his arm.

He choked, stared at her in shock. She laughed, and he was struck by how gorgeous and carefree she looked with the haunted look she had mostly been sporting since he met her out of her beautiful eyes.

Before he had a chance to react, she was sliding off of him, not hiding her nudity anymore. "Mind if I use your shower?"

It took another several seconds before he could respond, managing only a shake of his head and a wave of his hand in the direction of the bathroom. With another smile, she disappeared from view, leaving him feeling more tied up than he had been before. And with a renewed determination to get back the upper hand.

* * *

Lulu let the hot water beat down on her sore, and thoroughly used, muscles. She needed a breather, time to regroup. Dante was freaked out by whatever it was that was happening between them. That much was obvious. To be honest, she was just as freaked out. But it seemed that neither of them were willing to admit it, and she wasn't sure she really could define whatever "it" was anyway. She just knew she didn't want it to end, didn't want to stop feeling what she felt when she was with Dante. She could only hope she didn't end up with a broken heart in the end.

When she stall door opened, she told herself she shouldn't be surprised. She had issued another challenge, albeit a more subtle one, and she knew now how Dante responded to challenges. She could still _feel_ how Dante responded to challenges. She looked over her shoulder as he stepped in behind her, blocking most of the water from hitting her body. She felt one hand pushing her gently against the wall, pushing her breasts up against the ceramic tile, his cock pressing up against her ass. He leaned down and pressed his lips against her neck, letting his teeth scrape lightly against her skin, causing her to shiver despite the steam around them. He straightened and then brought his head closer to hers, with her turning her face to the side as much as possible so she could meet his lips in a brief yet deep kiss. His tongue thrust into her mouth once and then retreated. She sighed. Yes, she was waiting for this. He stepped back and turned her around so her back was against the wall, her breasts rising and falling in tune with her breaths of anticipation. She could already tell how wet she was, forget about the water pouring down from the shower head. How could he make her respond so fast?

She had to take a moment to admire his body as he stood under the stream of water, the way it pelted off his body. It was then that she noticed he held one hand behind his back. She eyed him suspiciously.

"You said you trusted me…" he began.

She nodded once. When he brought his hand forward, a pair of handcuffs was dangling from two of his fingers.

_Holy mother of God. _

_

* * *

_  
Dante said goodbye to his control again. His cock went to its familiar state of hardness in her presence and damn, did she look beautiful with droplets of water falling from her breasts, trailing down her stomach, down to the pale curls at the top of her glistening sex.

He realized he could very well be pushing her too far as her eyes widened at the cuffs he swung gently in front of him. But she didn't look at him in fear. She looked at him in…interest. Anticipation knotted in his stomach and his cock jerked to further attention.

"Your call," he said softly.

She seemed to think for only a moment before she slowly slid her arms up the wall and looped them through the bar above her.

"Jesus," he said under his breath in awe, her movements lifting her breasts higher. He could have sworn her nipples hardened even more before his eyes.

"Condom?" he practically croaked.

She shook her head. "I want to feel you. All of you."

His pulse roared in his eardrums as he made up the distance between them, pressed his mouth to hers even as his hands secured the cuffs around her wrists in between the bars. He barely processed the water hitting against his back. There was only Lulu. Had the feeling in his subconscious that there would only ever be Lulu.

His fingers teased the sides of her breasts. He rubbed his chest against her, loving the feel of her hard nipples against his skin. She let loose a sexy moan against his mouth and her body arched against him. He heard the metal clang of the cuffs against the bar and he groaned. The way she responded to him…she was every one of his fucking fantasies come to life.

"I want you so damn much," he breathed against her lips.

"Take me," she breathed back.

He played with her nipples, pinching them between his fingers, and then brushing his thumb over them to ease the ache.

"Spread your legs, sweetheart."

She responded to his low demand immediately, staring at him with an intensity that shook him. He reached down, grabbed his cock in his hand, and rubbed it against her wet folds. She shuddered and moaned. There was no way he could take this slow.

His hands moved behind her to caress her ass, squeezed each of her cheeks before going lower to grip the backs of her upper thighs in his hands, lifting her legs completely off the floor. He stepped in between her legs, positioned her opening above his cock and then thrust up even as he pushed her down on top of him. She cried out, her arms jerking, the cuffs clanging against the bar. He groaned, long and deep, the feel of her inner muscles stretching around him, squeezing him, nearly sending him over the edge.

"So." Thrust. "Fucking." Thrust. "Good." Thrust.

"Yes…" She cried out, her voice shaky.

He kept one hand holding her up and then stepped even further against her, into her, the action pushing him deeper, straight to her womb. He freed his other hand and brought it down to where they were joined. His thumb rubbed her clit and she instantly exploded, her body jerking in his arms as she came, her muscles spasming around his cock. Watching her face reflect her pleasure almost made him come right along with her, but he gritted his teeth and summoned every bit of his willpower, fought the tightening of his balls.

Even as she kept clamping down on him, he kept thrusting, sweat breaking out over his body.

"Can't…too much...Oh God…" She threw her head back against the wall, her arms jerking even more at her cuffs. "Take them off. Take them off!" she repeated urgently.

One hand moved up to the cuffs, fumbled with them, until they fell to the shower floor with a crash. Her arms immediately went to wrap around his neck, her mouth colliding with his in a passionate kiss. She practically climbed up his body to get in just the position she wanted to be in and grinded against him, her legs wrapping more fully around him, her heels digging into his ass.

"Come inside me," she pleaded in between kisses and he was helpless to do anything but. He felt his balls empty of every bit of release in her welcoming heat, felt her clenching around him in another orgasm. Groaning her name over and over, he lost himself in her yet again. When she slid weakly down his body and he pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her, he had only one thought.

_Holy fucking hell._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"So this is the gun Lucky got for you?"

Lulu looked over at Dante, nodded. They were sitting in the car in the parking lot of the shooting range the following afternoon…where they had been sitting for the past fifteen minutes. Lulu's stomach turned uneasily as she watched Dante handle the .22 revolver, turning it in his hand, noticeably checking the safety mechanism. She had done the same thing yesterday in class and she felt the same kind of panic now at the thought of using it as she did then.

"It's a good gun for a beginner."

She could only nod again, and Dante stared at her for several long moments.

"And you're not ready to fire it." He leaned across the seat, opened the glove compartment and tucked the gun inside.

Lulu expelled a breath of relief. Dante settled back against the driver's seat, turned his head, seemed to study her.

"You probably think I'm a coward," she finally said, looking away to stare out the window.

"No," he answered quickly and almost harshly. "When it comes to guns, it's better to be cautious than cocky. And sweetheart, 'coward' is the last word I would use to describe you."

She leaned her head back against the headrest, warmth spreading through her. "I like when you call me that," she admitted.

"What?"

She turned her head to the left to meet his eyes. "Sweetheart."

"Oh." She bit back a smile when he actually looked embarrassed.

"Though I suppose you're the kind of guy who calls all the girls that," she said lightly.

"No." He paused. "I don't." He said it slowly and she caught what sounded like surprise in his words, another flash of discomfort passing over his face. And just as he had multiple times before, he recovered quickly by tossing her a grin. "If I keep calling you that, will I get lucky?"

Even as she sighed internally, she smiled back at him. She was the one who told Dante they didn't have to define whatever it was going on between them. It was just that there was a part of her now wondering for how long that would be enough. She liked him…a lot more than a lot. Her previous relationships had all been based in rationale. Where to go for dinner, what to do on a Saturday night, when and where to have sex, when to break up. There was nothing rational about how she felt being with Dante. It was raw and it was emotional and it turned her inside out. When her previous relationships ended, she was never left brokenhearted. She had a feeling Dante had the ability to not only break her heart, but render it completely useless to anyone else. Not that he would do so intentionally. No, he would never do it intentionally. And that didn't make her feel any better at all.

"If I recall correctly, you got lucky a couple of times yesterday."

"If you have to think about it all, I didn't do something right."

Oh, he did everything right, she thought to herself. She still had the soreness in between her legs to prove that, the tingling throughout her body even thinking about how it felt to have his mouth on her…everywhere on her and inside of her. Images of being handcuffed in the shower flashed through her mind and heat infused her body. The things he could make her feel… That damned rational part of her mind told her she should have been horrified at allowing that to happen, that she should somehow feel embarrassed. But instead she found herself actually hoping he would do it again. When she spared a glance at Dante and saw the hooded look in his eyes, the subtle glances down to her lips, and then lower still, she knew without a doubt that he was thinking about it too. He had driven her back to Lucky's house not long after their legs could actually carry them out of the shower. There had been no conversation on the way back. He had walked her up to the door and as soon as she opened it to step inside, he had grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss that so slow, so deep, so bone-melting, she had to lean against him for support for a few seconds afterwards. Then he had muttered "good night" and headed back to his car. It was clear they had both been shaken by the intensity of being together. Suddenly she found herself being the one desperate for a change in subject.

"Have you ever had to shoot someone?" she asked, going back to their earlier discussion.

He blinked in surprise at the 180 in topics. Then a shadow crept into his eyes and she immediately regretted asking. "I'm sorry –" she started.

"It's okay." There was a long pause. "Yes, I have. More than once." As if sensing what she wanted to ask next, he continued. "Two of them didn't make it."

She suspected he carried that with him no matter the circumstances behind it.

"You don't take the decision to fire a weapon at someone lightly. You may know in your gut that you had no other choice, but it still stays with you." He paused to take a breath. "Lulu, before you handle a gun, you need to be mentally ready before you can be physically ready. If and when you get to that point, you'll know it. And if and when you are, I'll help you."

She didn't know what to say, how to express her gratitude that he could be so patient and understanding.

"Have you ever been shot?" she asked him, even the thought making her anxious.

"Barely grazed in the shoulder once. I've been lucky."

She nodded, silently willing him to stay that way.

"So I think I know what you need," Dante said, his turn for changing subjects, and the smile was back on his face.

"What I need?" she repeated.

His eyes roamed her body. She glanced down, took in her t-shirt and sweatpants. Yeah, she was looking real sexy today, she thought to herself, barely holding in a grimace.

He pointed to the bag at her feet on the floor. "You bring a change of clothes in there?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Because I have every intention of giving you a workout and making you sweat."

_Oh, boy._

_

* * *

_"Oh, God…." She groaned. She could feel the perspiration on her forehead, between her breasts.

"Come on. One more."

Her muscles screamed in protest. "I can't."

"One more," he repeated firmly.

She groaned again as her shaky arms lifted the weighted bar from just above her chest, where she had barely been keeping it from crushing her, up higher, to above her head and then finally into Dante's waiting hands as he spotted her. He easily put the bar back into place as Lulu lay panting for breath on the bench below.

"You are a sadist," she accused.

He just laughed and moved around the bench, holding out one hand for her to grab onto. She let him pull her up into a sitting position and then gulped down some water that he handed her.

She remembered when they had pulled into the parking lot of the gym. Dante had commented that this was the place where a lot of officers chose to work out.

"You meant a literal workout. As in weights and machines and things," she had said.

"What other kind is there?" he had asked innocently, but there had been no mistaking the wicked glint in his eye.

Before they had walked in the door, he had leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Too bad there are other people in there. If we were alone I would do things to you on those things. Use the handcuffs again too."

Her legs had turned to jell-o.

But he had been right. She _had_ needed this. It felt good to exercise and work off some of her tension over the past few months. She hadn't stepped foot in a gym in so long she forgot what a great release it could be. May not have been exactly the _type_ of release she was hoping for when she walked in. So yeah, she had been working off some tension of the sexual type as well. And the way Dante pushed her to her limits on every machine they had been to so far had her adrenaline pumping hard through her veins.

The way he looked in his white tank didn't hurt things either…not at all.

He led her over to the punching bag next.

"After you learn more in your self-defense classes, we can come back here and practice," he said as he helped to wrap up her hands. He stood behind the bag, both hands resting on its sides. "But for now, give it all you got." He waited until she had raised her fist and was in mid-motion to connect with the bag before he added, "Sweetheart."

Her heart tripped and she delivered a rather pathetic punch to the bag in front of her. How was she supposed to be bad-ass when he called her that? He smirked. He knew exactly what he was doing. Irritated, she hit the bag with enough force to cause him to move back…although not by much.

He raised his eyebrows. "Not bad, slugger. Not excellent, but commendable."

She started punching the bag in succession, rotating between both hands. Each time she forced Dante and the bag a little further back. Her hands were starting to hurt but she kept going. It had stopped being about working out and instead turned into taking her anger about her stalker, the letters, the murders, out on the bag. She couldn't seem to stop.

"You know what I can't get out of my head right now?" Dante asked her.

She grunted in response as she landed punch after punch.

"The look on your face when I make you come."

She released a shuddered breath as her fist landed on the bag and stayed there this time. From the other side, Dante reached out and placed one of his hands on top of it.

"I think you killed it about six rounds ago."

Her shoulders slumped and she let her forehead fall against the bag as she worked to catch her breath. She sighed when she felt him rubbing alongside the inside of her wrist with his thumb. One simple touch shouldn't feel that good.

"You said that to get me to stop."

"Yes," he said. "But it also happens to be true. I can't stop thinking about it. Even the way you were beating the hell out of that bag was fucking hot. But…" He paused. "You need to be careful not to overdo it or hurt yourself. Come here."

Instead of waiting for her to do as he asked, he moved to the side and tugged her hand to pull her over to him. He started taking off the wraps he had placed around her hands and knuckles and she couldn't hold back the small wince. He frowned at her as he studied her hands. Peering down, she was relieved that she hadn't broken the skin. Her knuckles were raw, sore, and reddened though. He grasped both of her wrists and brought them up to his mouth, blowing on them softly. She couldn't stop the shiver nor tear her eyes away.

"You should put lotion or ice on these when I get you home," he said. "Do you feel better?"

She knew he wasn't talking about her hands. "Yes." She blew out another breath. "Yes, I do. I think I needed to do that. But somehow you already knew that." She lifted her lips in a half smile. "Thank you."

Now his thumbs were caressing both her wrists as he continued to hold them close to his lips. He pressed his mouth to them so softly she barely felt it, yet at the same time she felt it straight to her soul. He lowered her hands a few inches and then his mouth was suddenly moving over hers. His lips pulled her in deeper, his tongue urged her higher. She leaned into him as much as possible with her hands trapped between them. It was only when she heard a whistle off to her left that she jumped slightly and pulled back, realizing where they were. She saw more than one pair of eyes on them and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

"Sorry," he murmured under his breath, finally letting go of her hands.

She couldn't speak. How could he turn her insides to mush with just one touch, one kiss?

"Let's go hit the locker rooms and grab some showers and I'll take you home."

* * *

They were taking a detour to Lulu's apartment on the way back to Lucky's so she could pick up a few things. Dante hadn't liked that idea at all, but Lulu turned those damned pretty eyes on him and he had agreed. Way too easily.

So now he tapped the steering wheel lightly as he drove, trying to concentrate on the road instead of getting lost in his thoughts. Trying not to glance over at Lulu, who just happened to be the definition of distraction. Trying to push aside the overpowering need to be inside her again. Trying to keep his heart from feeling way more than what he was comfortable with. Yet for every moment he spent with her, he wanted to spend ten more. How in the hell was he supposed to handle that?

He forced the thoughts away again and stole a quick look over at Lulu. She was looking out the window, her hands resting in her lap, her hair still slightly damp and falling in wet strands against her back and shoulders. As if seeming to sense his eyes on her, she turned his way and threw him a soft smile. His gut clenched. _Sucker_, some voice in the back of his mind taunted.

He had parked the car and Lulu keyed into the building. After stepping off the elevator and heading towards Lulu's apartment, Dante immediately shoved her behind him and drew his gun. He heard her gasp at the sudden movement but then she went silent entirely, her eyes fixated on the door to her apartment which was slightly ajar.

"Stay here," he ordered.

He quietly pushed open the door the rest of the way, eyes scanning the room, his gun sweeping in the direction his eyes took. The lights were on and made it easy to see the destruction that once was a living room. The couch and chairs were ripped to shreds and turned over, papers and magazines torn and scattered on the floor.

He covered the entire apartment, checking rooms, closets, any space where someone may be able to hide. He found nothing. He stepped back into what he had assumed was Lulu's bedroom, seeing as how it was the most destroyed out of everything in the apartment.

A sound of distress from behind him had him spinning around. And cursing.

"Goddamnit! Lulu, I told you to wait outside."

The hand holding his gun dropped to his side and he went over to her immediately, attempted to lead her from the room. She pulled away and stepped further inside. He watched helplessly as she took in the scene. Clothes were strewn about, all in tatters. There were dead roses thrown across the bed and floor. The bed had been slashed and the hilt of a knife was sticking out from one of the pillows. He saw that her hands were shaking. She turned around and there was that haunted look in her eyes again. The shock. The fear. He didn't miss the fury either. She went to walk past him and once against deflected him as he tried to reach out to grab her arm.

"Lulu, I need to call this in and you have to get out of here."

When she stopped in the doorway to the bathroom and brought a hand up to her mouth to cover a cry, he closed his eyes for a brief moment and then stepped behind her, forcing her to turn to face him. To turn away from the "whore" that had been written across the mirror in –

"Was that…was that blood?"

It looked and smelled like it, but he didn't answer her question. He walked her back into the front room. He should have processed the scene with detachment, instead he felt a cold rage build up inside of him. Keeping his eyes on Lulu, he called it in.

* * *

Lulu flipped her pillow and turned to lay on her other side. She was restless, couldn't seem to shut off her mind enough to get some sleep. Lucky had picked her up from her apartment and brought her back to his house while Dante had stayed back with the other cops who arrived on scene. They both had looked like they wanted to kill someone. She discovered that they had been sending officers by her and Maxie's apartment every couple of days as a precaution, that they had last checked it yesterday morning so it could have happened anytime after that. They were going to review footage from nearby surveillance cameras, but she doubted they would find anything. She felt violated. She had the other times the psycho had contacted her too but this was different. That was her home. And it was completely destroyed. Furniture, clothes, everything. She could only thank God that Maxie was out of town.

She already had her crying spell. Now she was on that plane in between numbness and anger. She just wanted this all to be over and she wanted this bastard to pay.

After another fifteen minutes of trying to force the agitation from her mind, she stood up from the bed, opened her bedroom door and walked out to the living room.

She knew he would be there.

The only light came from above the stove in the kitchen, casting part of the living room in a dim glow. She couldn't make out all of Dante's features but she knew he was awake. His head was propped on a couple of pillows against the arm rest of the couch and she felt his eyes on her from across the room. She didn't know how long they remained like that just looking at each other in the mostly darkness before he patted the couch with one hand.

She didn't hesitate.

When she reached the couch, he moved his legs apart so she could settle in between them. Then when she did, he pressed his tighter against her, molding their bodies together from the waist down. She shifted and could feel his erection against her, could hear his indrawn breath. Their eyes met, held, but all he did was wrap his arms around her as she laid her head down against his bare chest. She breathed in his scent, took in the heat that radiated off of him. It seemed to shoot straight inside of her as instantly she felt much of the tension dissolve from her body. She let out a slow breath, felt his lips against the top of her head.

"Try not to take advantage of me." By the movement she felt against her head, she could tell his mouth had moved into a smile after he said it. Hers did the same against his chest, even as her heart had started to feel heavy. No, she had done much more than that. She had fallen for him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

His hand was on her ass. Underneath her pajama shorts.

That was his first thought upon opening his eyes.

His second thought was that if the look on Lucky's face was any indication, that hand would be broken in under five seconds if he didn't move it. He moved it.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Lucky spoke the words quietly, slowly, his eyes narrowing.

Lulu was dead weight on top of him, her hair fanned out over his chest, her head in the crook of his neck. One of her hands was curled against his chest, and he was trying desperately not to think about the knee pressing against his groin.

"She's been out like this all night. Sleeping," he added, well aware that his voice sounded defensive. When Lucky's only response was a deep breath, Dante continued. "This was the first time she's slept through the night in awhile." He could see Lucky's jaw working. Shit. "Not that I know personally. She told me." Now it was Dante's turn for a deep breath. "Look…I thought you said you were okay with the idea of me and Lulu." Hell, he was still trying to get used to the idea of that himself.

"That doesn't mean I want to have the image of you feeling up my sister burned into my brain." A look of what could only be called horror crossed his face. "Jesus, man."

"I wasn't feeling her up." Intentionally, he added silently.

Lucky made a sound of disgust and turned around to head to the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks, turned around again, and headed to the front door. "I'll just grab something on the way in. Don't forget we have those interviews in an hour."

Dante heard the door close and sighed. Looking down at Lulu, he tucked some of the hair that had fallen across her face behind her ear. She had fallen asleep almost instantly last night. His sleep, on the other hand, had not been so forthcoming. And it wasn't just because his dick had other ideas with Lulu draped all over him. He'd never _slept_ with a woman before. Even the thought of it previously felt like a noose tightening around his neck. It hadn't felt that way with Lulu. Instead of feeling that tightening around his neck, he felt it in his chest with every soft breath against his skin and the peaceful look on her face. It felt so completely natural to hold her in his arms and have the weight of her pressed against him. He was still panicked for sure, more than a lot, but it felt like some part of him had also moved into some form of acceptance that Lulu had somehow touched him in a place that no one else had even come close to approaching. For the first time in his thirty-one years, he didn't know what to do with himself.

He had been so completely attuned to her last night, so on edge with the emotions tumbling inside of him, that even the slightest movement from her had jerked him awake. When he finally did manage to fall under a deeper sleep, he had awakened only to discover his hand's wayward journey and Lucky rotating between wanting to beat the shit out of him and acting scarred for life.

He lightly touched his thumb to her cheek and then stroked down to her mouth. Her lips parted and he released a slow breath. She had to be the most beautiful thing he ever laid eyes on.

"Lulu." No response. "Lulu," he said again, this time sliding his hand down to her hip and squeezing gently.

She moaned and shifted against him, pressing her knee harder against his cock. He hissed in a breath and tried to move underneath her but if anything she just snuggled closer. He grew harder. God, he'd have given anything to slide into the welcoming heat of her body. His grip on her waist increased. He felt her begin to stir and watched as her eyes slid open slowly. He saw confusion turn to awareness as her body seemed to stiffen. She awkwardly pulled herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes. If his cock could talk it probably would have both thanked her and cursed her. When her eyes glanced down to his lap, he knew there was no way she missed his hard-to-hide erection. She drew her lower lip in between her teeth.

He groaned as he forced himself to his feet. "If I didn't have to leave for the station, you would be underneath me right now."

As her eyes shot up to his, he could see that idea held some appeal for her. He forced his eyes away from the temptation of her and headed into the kitchen.

"What time is it?" she asked tiredly.

He glanced at the clock above the stove. "A little before eight." He opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a bottle of water and headed back into the living room to hand it to her.

"I slept all night?" she asked surprised.

"Like the dead."

She was silent, seemed to be lost in thought. He grabbed his shirt from the back of the couch, made quick work of putting it on. He picked up his pants from the floor and headed towards the bathroom to finish getting dressed. When he walked back out into the other room, Lulu was in the same position as before, the same pensive look on her face.

"You okay?" he asked, grabbing his holster from the table and attaching it to his waist.

She nodded. "Fine."

"I'm hoping to make at least some progress on the case today. We have to catch a break at some point. Try to get some rest."

When she didn't respond, he started to walk past her, changed his mind, then headed back to the couch. He slipped his hand around the back of her neck and leaned down to take her lips in a brief yet deep kiss. He swallowed the noise she made in her throat before drawing back. Yeah, he felt better. Completely satisfied, no, but it would have to do for now.

"I'm going to take you to dinner later." There was a long stretch of silence, and Jesus Christ, was he actually feeling nervous?

She seemed to be fighting back a smile. "I think I might let you."

He gave her a brief nod and walked to the door, having the sudden urge for a retreat.

"Oh," he started, turning back around to face her, saw she was looking back at him. "You can sleep on me anytime, sweetheart."

* * *

"Wait a minute. You're telling me I'm here because some frigid bitch didn't go out with me?"

Dante's fist clenched as he stood up and started pacing the interview room. Lucky pasted a cruel smile on his face as he looked at Damien Carter, one of the employees at the publishing company whose name Rebecca Reynolds had given them.

"She obviously had good taste," Lucky commented.

"This is about that stalker shit."

"You're looking pretty good as a suspect," Dante responded.

"Please. Her saying no was no skin off my back. I would have fucked her and forgot her anyway."

Lucky and Dante exchanged glances. Lucky flipped off the tape recorder on the table and Dante grabbed Carter's arm and twisted it behind his back, hard, found a bone and applied pressure. Carter cried out like a little girl.

"You…You can't do this," he sputtered. "I'll press charges."

Dante released him and then kicked at the chair, sending him to the floor. How was this fuck even employed? Dante decided he would see what he could do about that.

"For what?" Lucky responded. "All I saw was you losing your balance."

"I want a lawyer," he spat angrily.

Four hours later, Dante sat tiredly at his desk. With no reason or evidence to hold Carter or charge him with anything, they had been forced to let him go after he demanded a lawyer. His alibis were flimsy at best so after talking to one of the FBI agents, they had arranged to run surveillance on him.

Richard Williams, the other employee at the publishing company, had been much more low-key, claiming not to even remember having asked Lulu out.

He had just spent the past hour arguing with the FBI about putting surveillance on both Williams and Bennett, Lulu's agent, as well. He heard the usual spiels about resources, jurisdiction, probable cause, etcetera etcetera, before getting a noncommittal response about checking with superiors and getting back to him.

The camera outside Lulu's apartment building showed nothing – because it wasn't functional. He had given the landlord an earful about that one. Of course none of the other cameras in the surrounding area of the apartment building showed anything suspicious, not that you could tell much from the grainy distant images in the first place. Then they had the other tenants in the building saying they didn't see anyone out of the ordinary, except for one woman who thought _maybe_ a man had walked into the building right after her yesterday morning, but she wasn't paying attention and didn't give him a second look. Couldn't even give them an average height or weight. They'd send her to the police sketch artist anyway to see if he could trigger anything else from her memory.

He rubbed his hands over his face, feeling the beginning growth of stubble. He looked up when Lucky walked over to him. Wisely, neither mentioned that morning at all throughout the day.

"What do you make of Carter?" Lucky asked.

"A little too obvious." They wouldn't rule him out, but Dante's gut wasn't screaming at him that he was their perp.

"My thoughts too."

And then the day got worse. A livid Mac had called in the task force to say he was given a heads up that tomorrow's headline of the newspaper was going to be raising questions on a possible connection between the Port Charles serial killer and the stalking incidents of the town's "famous scribe", Lulu Spencer. The reporter publishing the article had already called the police spokeswoman and asked questions about yesterday's break-in, something that had certainly not been released to the media. Of course, this also meant that after the newspaper was distributed tomorrow, they would get calls from news outlets all over the country. Dante and Lucky both cursed up a storm. Yet another thing they would need to brace Lulu for.

He willed for this whole fucking mess to be over with. To give Lulu her sense of safety back and get another damn psychotic piece of shit off the streets. Maybe then he could begin to make sense of his feelings for her.

* * *

"No. Absolutely not," Lulu said vehemently into her phone.

"Lulu –"

"Maxie, you are staying right where you are. I swear to you if you even try to return I will put you back on a plane myself. It's not safe for you here."

"And it's safe for you?" Maxie hmmphed into the phone. "Fine. Then you come here to Paris."

Lulu sighed. She had called Maxie to tell her about their apartment being trashed before she heard about it from anyone else and ended up spilling everything about the murders and her connection to them. Maxie had flipped out as only Maxie could and then she went into protective mode.

"I'm not running, Maxie. I want this to be over."

"Even if it means losing your life?" Maxie asked her incredulously. "No way. No one else would put up with me so I'm sorry, I'm going to selfishly insist you stay alive. No matter what it takes."

"Nothing's going to happen to me." She hoped.

"Well you shouldn't have to go through this alone. I'm taking the first flight out –"

"Maxie." Her voice did not disguise her frustration and exasperation. "This guy is killing blondes. Do you not get that? You are _not_ coming home. I would worry even more with you here. If anything happened to you, you wouldn't that over my head would you?" Before Maxie could argue with her again, she continued. "And I'm not going through this alone. I have Lucky." She paused. "And Dante."

There was a long pause on the line before Maxie finally spoke again. "You and Detective Hottie?"

Despite herself, Lulu smiled. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. You do know who you're talking to, right?"

Lulu resisted the urge to make a comment about her and Lucky. Because she really didn't want to go there and it still gave her the creeps to think about it. "He's helping with the case."

"Is that all he's helping with?" Maxie asked pointedly.

"Goodbye, Maxie. You remember what I said."

"You're no fun." She could see Maxie's pout just as clearly in her mind as she would have if she was standing right in front of her. "You need to call me every day." She paused. "Please be careful."

"I will," Lulu promised before hanging up. As close as she and Maxie were, which considering how opposite they were still surprised her to this day, she was _not_ ready to discuss what was going on between her and Dante, not when she wasn't even sure how he felt about her. He was attracted to her, that much was obvious. She saw glimpses in his eyes that it was more than that, but he appeared to take turns between being confused about it and being pissed off about it. And being so unexpectedly sweet and understanding at times that it was too difficult to be upset with him. Her heart felt like a damned ping pong ball.

For the first time in a very long time, she had actually slept through the night – even after the emotionally traumatic experience of having her personal space vandalized. She didn't think it was a coincidence that it happened to be in Dante's arms. It had shaken her this morning, but she couldn't deny the truth that she felt safe with him. Despite his rough edges, she trusted him completely and he seemed to understand her in a way that no one else ever had. She had felt the evidence of how turned on he was, both last night and when she woke up this morning. Yet he didn't try to take advantage, even though a part of her hoped he would.

She smiled when she thought back to his declaration of taking her to dinner, because it was definitely more a statement than a question. And there was no doubt about it – he would absolutely be getting lucky tonight.

* * *

Dante knocked on the door, waited.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Who's me?"

He fought back a groan. "Your son, Ma. Open up."

"Son? What son?" she said, even as she opened the door. "Sons visit their mothers every once in awhile, pick up the phone sometimes."

Because she said it with a smile, he smiled back. When he walked inside, she pulled him into a brief embrace and kissed him on the forehead. "Hi, honey."

He walked over to the couch and plopped down.

"Wow," Olivia said as she sat down next to him. "That bad, huh?"

Dante just grunted.

"Want to talk about it?" When he didn't respond, she went on. "I know you're working on the serial killer case. Are you closer to finding the guy?"

He just shook his head and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "It's gotten a lot more complicated. And I feel like if I can't figure this out, whatever happens next is going to be on my head."

She looked at him in surprise. "Baby, you know better than that. I know you do. You can't control the decisions other people make. I know you, and I know you give one hundred percent to every case and every victim. It's how you've made it as far as you have. Why I'm so proud of you."

He sighed. "I'm not sure why I came over here."

She stared at him in that contemplative motherly look that always made him squirm as a kid and almost had him doing the same now. "This is about more than just the case. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"I'm your mother. I know when something is eating at you. Why don't I make you some dinner and then you can tell me the truth?"

"I can't. I have plans." He thought about dinner with Lulu. He wasn't sure where he was taking her yet, just knew he wanted to see her face.

She studied him again. Her lips pursed and he knew she was trying to hold in a smile. "It's a woman."

He cursed mothers' intuition.

"Don't tell me after thirty-one years, there's finally a woman who has you all tied up in knots." He opened his mouth to deny but she held up a hand. "Ah. I know the signs."

"Ma." His voice held a note of warning but Olivia just waved it off and laughed delightedly.

"I'm so glad you find my misery amusing."

"Oh, baby. I don't find it amusing. I find it about time. Who is it? Do I know her?"

Dante stood up. "Okay. I'm leaving."

His mother reached out and grabbed his hand. "Okay, okay. I'm not going to be nosy just yet. But I'm going to ask you one more question."

He was almost afraid to ask what it was.

Taking his silence as permission to proceed, she asked, "If this woman were to suddenly be out of your life tomorrow, how would you feel?"

Dante thought about that…and didn't have to think very hard. "Like hell."

Olivia smiled. "Then don't let her go."

When his mother squeezed his hand before letting it go, he realized there were times when he was still just a boy who needed his mom.

* * *

Lulu glanced at her watch. It was five o'clock and she hadn't seen or heard from either her brother or Dante. She wondered if they were making any progress on the case. She could only hope so. Grabbing her purse and keys from the table, she headed to the front door. It wouldn't hurt to just check in at the station. After hours of trying to keep herself busy at the house, she was feeling more than a little antsy.

She had made it to the car, her hand lifting up on the handle when a body slammed into her hard from behind, pushing her up against the door. Her hand twisted painfully. She cried out, her purse and keys dropping to the ground. A rough hand clamped over her mouth, squeezing her jaw, another hand yanking both of hers forcibly behind her back.

"Hello, Lulu. Did you miss me?" She felt hot breath hit her ear and she tried to push away in disgust but she couldn't move. The voice was low, raspy, as if the person was deliberately trying to disguise it.

She tried to scream against the hand covering her mouth but his other hand only jerked her arms hard in warning. Terror filled her system. No. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. Her heart felt like it was going to burst right out of her chest as panic squeezed it.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you yet. Where's the fun in that?"

He twisted her wrists behind her and she whimpered as pain shot up her arm. Suddenly his hand released hers but he only pressed himself harder up against her. It was then that she felt the cool blade of the knife against her cheek.

"I can't stay. I just wanted to give you a preview of coming attractions."

She felt the knife press into her skin, felt the sting, felt the trickle of blood. She cried out again, tears coming to her eyes. _Think, think, think_.

Her mind flashed back to when Dante had her pressed against the wall, his words echoing in her head. She tried to push back with her legs, to free her hands, but she couldn't move. She let her body go limp, forcing him to lose some of the grip he had on her mouth. She used the opportunity to bite down on his hand, hard. She then reared her head back and felt pain as she connected with what she hoped was his nose.

"Fucking bitch!" he spat at her. His hand grabbed her hair and pulled so hard she yelped. "You'll pay for that next time."

Her head exploded in pain as he slammed it forward against the car, barely missing the driver's side window. His footsteps running away were the last thing she heard before her vision went black and she crumbled to the ground.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The flashing lights from the police cars and ambulance were the first thing Dante saw as he was driving towards Lucky's house. His foot faltered on the gas pedal as shock and a cold fear body-slammed him.

_Lulu._

He forced his foot back on the pedal until he screeched to a stop behind one of the cruisers, shifted into park, cut the ignition and burst out of the car, not even bothering to grab his keys or shut the door. He flashed his badge to the officer blocking the scene and broke out into a run. He felt his pulse pounding in his ears, adrenaline more than his legs carrying him to the driveway, where he ran into a visibly shaken Lucky.

"Where is she?"

"She was just lying there." Lucky's voice sounded distant.

Apprehension flooded through him. Terror seized him from the inside out and wouldn't let go. Dante battled back his frustration but couldn't keep the panic from his voice. "Where the fuck is she?"

_Please let her be okay._

His eyes scanned wildly around him, his heart stopping when he saw two paramedics wheeling a stretcher to the ambulance.

"Lulu!"

He forced his legs to move despite each step feeling like hundred pound weights were holding down his feet.

_She has to be okay._

He maneuvered to the side to get a view of the body on the stretcher, his heart contracting in his chest when he saw Lulu laid out before him, so so pale. When he saw the rise and fall of her chest, relief swamped through him and almost brought him to his knees.

_Alive. Thank you God._

She had a bandage over her left cheek. There was a large bump forming on her forehead and above her left eye. Her eyes were closed but her face seemed to twitch momentarily as if in pain and helplessness floated through him.

"Is she okay?" The words came out strangled through the emotions lodged in his throat.

One of the paramedics spared him a glance and continued to get her vitals. He watched as her eyelids were lifted, a light shined in each one. "Her pupils are responsive. That's a good sign. Her BP is low, but that's likely from shock. It depends on the extent of her head injury. We've got to get her in to the hospital."

Lucky, out of whatever trance he had been in moments ago, now stood beside him. "She'll be okay. She has to be. Oh God." He ran a hand through his hair.

"What the fuck happened?"

Lucky shook his head. "She was passed out on the ground by her car when I pulled in. Her cheek was bleeding. She wouldn't respond. I'm not sure how long she was like that. Jesus. I thought she was –" His voice trailed off, his breath hitched. "I pulled out my phone to call it in but that's when Briggs and Devlin drove by."

Dante rounded on the two officers who had just walked up to them. "Where the fuck were you two? You were supposed to be running the routine patrols by the house." His voice was angry, accusing, and both officers bristled.

"That's what we've been doing all day. Every hour. There was nothing out of the ordinary at 4:30 when we made our rounds." It was Devlin who spoke.

"Yeah? This guy didn't just appear out of thin air. He had to have been staking out the area to know when to attack. You call that nothing out of the ordinary? Why don't you explain to me how the fuck Lulu can get attacked in the broad fucking daylight if you two idiots were actually doing your job? Why a serial killer is still on the loose?"

Dante's fist was clenched and he had taken a threatening step towards Devlin, who looked like he was ready to strike out. He wanted to dare the bastard to try.

"Stand down, Detective." Mac had stepped behind Devlin. His voice left no question about the demand. "Now."

But still Dante didn't move. Not until he heard the soft moan from behind him. He spun around and stared down at Lulu, who seemed to be struggling to open her eyes.

The paramedics were pushing their bags into the ambulance. Dante reached out and squeezed her hand while Lucky flanked her other side.

"Lulu? Can you hear me?"

Her eyes fluttered open, struggled to focus, but she turned her head just enough to look at him. "Dante?"

"Are you okay, baby?"

"Hurts…" Her voice was weak and her eyes drifted closed again, her head falling back to where it was before.

The paramedics pushed them aside, Lulu's hand slipping out of Dante's. "We've got to head out," one of them said and Dante and Lucky watched helplessly as Lulu was loaded inside.

"We'll see you at the hospital," Lucky called out to her just before the doors closed and the ambulance pushed away from the curb and headed down the street, sirens blaring.

* * *

Dante paced the waiting room while Lucky sat in a chair tapping his foot on the floor and occasionally putting his head in his hands. It had been over an hour and they had no updates. Nothing. Nerves and a building anger clawed at him.

When Dr. Patrick Drake walked into the room nearly a half hour later, they both rushed to his side.

"She's awake and asking for you both, so let's go talk in her room."

Her eyes were closed when they stepped inside but they slowly lifted as the door closed behind them.

"She has a concussion. Her head seemed to take a pretty hard hit, but we ran some CT scans and it doesn't look like there's any internal bleeding. The cut on her cheek was superficial. Didn't need stitches. She said it was from a knife."

Dark emotions swirled inside Dante. When Lucky pulled up a chair to Lulu's bedside and placed a hand on her arm, he kept his distance. Three butterfly bandages had been placed over her cheek and her head was wrapped in a bandage. He saw an ice pack poking out from underneath.

"She complained of pain in her arms and wrists. We took some x-rays but there's nothing broken. It could have been much worse. She was very lucky."

"Lucky?" Dante bit out. "No, lucky would have been not attacked at all."

"Dante." Lulu said his name softly, turned her eyes on him. Her voice washed over him, extinguished some of the anger, but it was only replaced by a sense of hopelessness at seeing her so vulnerable and hurt. Whether it was unreasonable or not, he somehow felt like he failed her.

"I want to keep her overnight just as a precaution. I'll put in the orders to have her moved to a regular room shortly. But I have no doubt she'll be just fine," Patrick finished.

Physically, Dante added to himself. She'd be fine physically. But what about emotionally?

A brief knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and Ronnie stepped into the room.

"I need to question her."

"Not now," Dante said automatically.

"It's either me or the FBI."

"She just had a pretty heavy dose of pain medicine that will probably knock her out for awhile. Now is probably the best time," Patrick cut in. Before Dante could say anything else, he excused himself and walked out of the room.

"It's okay," Lulu said quietly, but she said it to Dante. They stared at each other in silence for several moments. He suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"Dante and I stay," Lucky spoke up.

"Fine." Ronnie got out his notebook. "We'll have you come down to the station to make your official statement after you're released." When Lulu just nodded, he continued. "What were you doing outside?"

"I was restless. Thought I would drive down to the station to see Lucky and Dante."

The guilt that slashed into him felt like a knife. "I'm sorry. I should have checked in with you sooner."

"It's not your fault. Or Lucky's. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I should have been more careful."

"Bullshit," Dante said harshly. Tension settled in the room.

"Tell me what happened," Ronnie prompted finally.

Lulu recounted everything, and with each word Dante felt rage burning a hole in his stomach. Exhaustion was evident on her face, in her voice.

"He told me he wasn't going to kill me. He said he just wanted to give me a 'preview of coming attractions'. Then he cut me."

Her voice shook and Dante wondered if she realized she had raised a hand to her face protectively. He cursed under his breath and moved across the room to lean against the wall in the corner, trying to tamp down on the storm that seemed to be brewing inside of him.

"Did you recognize the voice?" Ronnie asked.

Lulu shook her head. "He wasn't speaking normally. His voice was so low, it was hard to understand. But he was so angry."

When she told them about biting his hand and slamming the back of her head into his face, as pissed as he was that she was being put through this hell, there was also pride and admiration.

"There were two areas with blood by the car. It's possible some may be his. If so, that will be our first real break," Ronnie informed them.

"You did good," Lucky put in. "That probably stopped him from doing worse."

"That's when he smashed my head against the car. So I'd say I pissed him off pretty good. Told me I'd pay for it next time."

"There won't be a next time," Dante said coldly. And if there was, it would be over his dead body.

"We'll catch this guy," Lucky promised.

"Anything else you can think of?" Ronnie asked her.

"He wasn't much taller than me. Maybe an inch or two. When he was…pressed against me, he seemed average in build." She shuddered. "But he was strong. I didn't see his face at all. I'm sorry."

Dante pressed his heel hard against the wall. "Don't you dare apologize."

"No, you've been very helpful. I'm going to let you get some rest and we'll talk more when you're released or if I get any new information." Ronnie nodded towards Lucky and then to Dante as he left the room.

Dante let out a slow, deep breath and felt Lulu's eyes on him. He couldn't be around her like this, didn't want the fury he was feeling to touch her. So he did the only thing he could do at that moment – he walked out.

* * *

Lulu watched him go, trying not to be disappointed, but at the same time she understood. Probably more than he wanted her to.

"He's upset."

"To put it mildly. I don't think I've ever seen him like that," Lucky commented.

"Will he be okay?"

"I'm a little more worried about you right now."

"I'll be fine." Someone wanted to kill her, what wasn't fine about that? Yet at the moment she found herself more worried about Dante. She sighed as her eyes started to feel heavy.

"You scared the hell out of me," her brother said quietly.

She had been pretty terrified herself. But she also learned that she could fight back. Would fight back.

"I'm not going anywhere," she reassured him, her eyes finally closing in exhaustion.

He squeezed her hand. "Get some sleep." He paused. "And Lulu?"

"Hmm?"

"Dante will be okay."

She hoped so.

* * *

He found himself at the gym. It was either there or the shooting range or a bar, but firing his gun at a fake target wasn't fulfilling enough. Or punishing enough. And he didn't want his senses dulled by alcohol. So Dante forced himself through one of the most grueling workouts he had ever experienced in his life. There wasn't a machine he bypassed. His muscles protested, his heart pounded, sweat rolled off him, but he forced himself to continue, even welcomed the pain.

He could have lost her. He recalled his earlier conversation with his mother, her question on how he would feel if Lulu wasn't a part of his life. He hadn't lost her, but seeing her hurt had been worse than hell. How did she come to mean so much to him in such a short amount of time? And why he was not only afraid to explore those feelings but also afraid to ignore them as well?

He saved the punching bag for last, letting Lulu's words about what happened tonight replay through his mind, letting the rage build up again. Picturing that fucking bastard before him, he unloaded. And wished like hell it was reality just so he could see him bleed.

* * *

Lulu woke up with a groan and a dull ache in her head. Confusion was momentary and then realization hit about the events of the evening and where she was.

"How are you feeling?"

Her head jerked to the right at the sound of the voice and mentally cursed herself for the sharp stab of pain in her temple the movement caused. She breathed through the pain, felt it start to lessen. Though the lights in the hospital room were dim, she could make out Dante's features, saw his eyes on her from where he sat in the recliner.

"Where's Lucky?"

"Told him I would stay with you."

"What time is it?"

"A little after 1am."

She studied him. Most of the anger that had seemingly been pouring out of him earlier was gone but there was unmistakable tension in his eyes.

"You didn't answer my question, how are you feeling?"

"Like my head lost a battle with a car door."

She realized it was the wrong thing to say when his face hardened. Her hand lifted to her head, touched the bandage covering what she was sure was a decent sized bump. "I guess I just wanted to see if my head could get as big as yours."

He didn't react at first, but then his lips lifted in a small smile. "I could have saved you the trouble. That's not possible."

She smiled back. "Come here."

Hesitation crossed his face, but he stood up and approached the bed.

"Closer," she said and then grabbed his hand when he had stepped close enough so his thighs were touching the mattress. "To answer your question…I'm okay. I'm not broken." She paused. "And I would feel a lot better if you were lying here next to me."

She felt his hand tighten on hers as he looked down at her. His thumb brushed over the pulse in her wrist.

"Scoot over," he finally said.

She lifted the sheet and moved enough so he could slide in next to her and then let the sheet fall over both of them. He tucked his arm under her head and she settled against his shoulder. "Better already," she said, letting her fingers trail over the chains around his neck and then down to stroke over the buttons of his shirt. She was afraid to look up at him and let him see the emotions she was sure were swimming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry about dinner," he said quietly.

"Yeah…about that…"

"Hmm?"

"Maybe we should stick with sex. That seemed to work out better for us."

She heard his soft chuckle and felt a gentle kiss to the top of her head before she let sleep claim her once again.


	17. Chapter 17

Note:

Just have to say thank you again for all the wonderful reviews. It really makes my day to read all the great comments. I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. It might be 3-4 days until the next update but I do try to get chapters up when I can. You all are awesome…enjoy =)

* * *

**Chapter 17**

She woke alone. In the bed anyway. After her eyes adjusted to the glaring brightness of the sun from the windows and she looked towards the recliner, she saw Lucky flipping through a magazine.

"Morning," she mumbled.

Lucky put down the magazine and smiled at her. "It was…about an hour ago."

"What?"

"It's 12:30."

Whoa. She must have been really out of it.

"You feeling okay?" her brother asked her, not quite keeping the concern out of his voice.

She sat up, tested herself by turning so her legs fell over the side of the bed. No dizziness, no nausea. No nail being driven into her skull. When she went to try to stand up, Lucky hopped up and held up a hand.

"Let me call Epiphany. You shouldn't overdo it. And if you fell on your ass, Epiphany would have mine, and she's already irritated this morning."

Lulu smiled. "What now?"

"After I got here, she was muttering about this being a hospital not a hotel. I'm not going to ask what she meant by that."

"Speaking of…Where _is_ Dante?"

Lucky closed his eyes, opened them slowly. "And yes, my mind did go there. Thanks for that."

Lulu grinned unrepentantly while Lucky just shook his head. "I think it's safe to say you _are_ feeling better."

"If your mind went there, that's on you. All I did was sleep." She paused. "And yes, I think I am feeling better. Considering."

"Well that's good," he started, turning around to grab a newspaper from the chair and then handing it to her. "Maybe this won't upset you as much then."

Lulu glanced down at the headline on the main page. "Serial Killer Stalks Port Charles and Author," she read aloud and sighed, only bothering to scan pieces of the article before looking back up at Lucky. "Well, it was only a matter of time I guess. They work fast though if they've already gotten details about yesterday." The article had promised additional information in tomorrow's paper about yesterday's attack. They sure as hell wouldn't be getting any statements from her. She handed the paper back to Lucky.

"We think there might be a leak at the station. To answer your earlier question, Dante left a few hours ago to look into that for Mac and take care of a few other things. He should be back soon."

She tried not to let her happiness about that show too much. "Are there any leads yet?"

"No." His frustration was evident. "But we'll get him."

Two hours later she was changing into her favorite pair of lounge pants and t-shirt that Lucky had brought for her after stepping out of the shower in the bathroom of her hospital room. Patrick had already been in and said everything looked okay and he'd push through the paperwork for her release. She only had a brief bout of dizziness after getting up and walking for the first time but she could feel her strength coming back.

Standing in front of the mirror as she brushed out the tangles from her hair, she frowned. The bandage from her head had been removed and she could see the beginnings of a nasty bruise on her forehead. She winced in discomfort when she touched her hand to it. The fact that some of the swelling had already gone down from the ice packs that had been applied off and on was only small consolation. Not that she was vain. She just didn't much care for the reminder about what happened yesterday. She lightly brushed her finger over the cut on her cheek. They had put new bandages over it but Patrick told her she could take them off tomorrow.

With a sigh, she walked out of the bathroom and stopped short when she saw Dante leaning against the hospital bed talking to Lucky. He had stopped mid-sentence to look in her direction and she felt that familiar buzz of pleasure every time he turned those eyes on her.

"You're looking good," he commented.

She scoffed. "Please." She gestured towards the two bags Dante had at his feet. "What's going on?"

Her brother spoke. "I packed up some of your things at the house this morning and had Dante pick them up on his way here."

Nerves fluttered in her stomach. "Why?"

Dante cleared his throat. "You're going to stay with me."

The fluttering turned into a hammering. Having sex was one thing. Sleeping together on the couch, in the hospital bed – that was another thing. But actually moving in with him and sharing his space? That was something else entirely, even if it was just for her protection. And it _was_ just for her protection. She'd be wise to keep that in the front of her mind and any thoughts of more away from her heart. But she still had to agree to it, and she wasn't quite ready to do that out of a matter of self-preservation. "If I have to move out of your house," she started, addressing her brother, "maybe a hotel would be better."

"How would a hotel be better?" Dante asked, eyebrows raised.

Lulu's mouth opened, then shut almost immediately.

"Thought so," Dante remarked, barely keeping the smugness out of his expression.

Lulu shot him a look, having a really hard time reconciling all the moods that seemed to encompass Dante Falconeri without getting whiplash. And trying to understand why _all_ of them held at least some appeal to her even when at least a couple should have annoyed her.

"It'll probably be the safest place for you right now," Lucky added, though she thought she heard some reluctance mixed with grudging acceptance in the statement.

"What about you?" Lulu asked him.

"What about me?"

"Where will you stay?"

Lucky's brows furrowed. "What do you mean? I'm staying at the house."

"But what if he goes there again?"

"Then we'll be ready for him this time. We have things covered, Lulu. You're my concern right now."

She sighed. "Fine."

When she looked at Dante again, he threw her a smile that messed up her insides. She crossed her arms over her chest, over her heart, protectively. Because she knew with another round of up close and personal with Dante she'd be a goner.

Dante carried Lulu's bags over to the couch and set them on the floor.

"Want anything to drink?" he asked her.

_Alcohol would be nice_. "No, thank you."

He stood looking at her, then smiled as he walked over to where she stood just outside the elevator doors. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not," she denied. When she felt the stiffness in her shoulders and posture, she ordered herself to relax. She must have tried too hard because his smile widened. This was ridiculous. The man had had her handcuffed to a shower and she _liked_ it. Why the hell should she be anxious about temporarily moving in with him? Emphasis on the temporary.

Making her lips turn up in a smile, she stepped further into the room, looked around. "I just realized I didn't really have a chance to check out your loft last time I was here. It's nice."

He had moved behind her, and she could feel him without even turning around. "We were kind of busy."

When she felt his breath on her neck, she angled away and walked over towards the kitchen alcove, letting her hand run over the smooth countertop. This place really was fantastic, even though most of it did scream man-cave. She took in the floor to ceiling beams, the light filtering in from all of the many windows, the exposed brick, the ambience of browns, blacks, and grays. It was the definition of character and she could see how it seemed to suit him so well.

He moved behind her once again and with a teasing smile in his direction, she shifted away, walked past the couch and over to the bed. Her fingers brushed against the satiny softness of the sheets. She heard him clear his throat from across the room.

She stood in front of the nightstand by the bed. "I think –" But her words became trapped in her throat as she stared down at the object on the table. It felt like a hand had ripped through her chest and was squeezing her heart.

"What? What's wrong?" She registered the alarm in his voice. Forcing her hands to move, trying to calm the frantic beating of her heart, she picked the item up and slowly walked over to where he stood behind the couch. She held it up.

"You bought my first book."

He looked back at her with both discomfort and embarrassment, but she didn't care. She felt more of a thrill now than when she found out it had hit #1 on the bestseller list. She'd think about that revelation later. But she knew if she got any warmer inside she'd start melting in front of him.

"I haven't had much time to get very far. But it's, ah, good…"

"You bought my book," she repeated.

_Ohh-kay_, now he just looked irritated.

"I didn't want to want you so damn much," he said finally after a long stretch of silence. "But I do."

"Okay."

He took one step forward. "I didn't want to need you so goddamn much." Another pause. "But I fucking do."

_Thud_. "Okay."

"You're in my head. I can't get you out."

She resisted asking him if he wanted to, afraid she might not like his answer. _But he bought your book._ The words floated through her head. It had to mean something.

"You're the most complicated man I have ever met."

_Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you. _Yeah, she left that part out. Instead, before giving him a chance to respond, she made up the distance between them and practically jumped into his arms, forcing them to wrap around her as she pulled his lips down to hers. Oh, she missed this, she thought as she molded herself against him. It hadn't even been that long since she had felt his mouth working over hers and she missed it. He took over the kiss and there was nothing gentle about it. Her hands clenched in his hair and his teeth nipped at her lips. She felt his hands at the small of her back, pressing her tighter against him. She could feel his erection pushing against her lower belly and went weak at the knees remembering what it felt like inside of her. What he felt like inside of her. She moaned at the feel of his tongue sliding against hers. Oh yes, she remembered what that felt like inside of her too. When she angled her head to deepen the kiss even more, she drew in a breath when his forehead accidentally bumped against the bruise on her head. He froze and pulled back. She held onto the grip she had in his hair.

"Shit. I'm sorry."

Her body felt tense, needy. Her voice was a little breathless. "If you stop, I'll kill you."

He appeared to choke back a laugh, his face looking pained at the same time. "I'm not that selfless." He paused. "But are you sure you're okay?" His eyes searched hers.

She nodded. "Perfect."

"Good. Because if I don't get inside you again, I might die anyway."

Heat flared inside her.

"Raise your arms," he demanded, then stepped closer to lift the shirt off over her head when she complied. She hadn't bothered to put on her bra before leaving the hospital and judging by Dante's indrawn breath and muttered curse, she suspected he was happy about that. She could feel her nipples tighten under his stare, but he didn't reach out to touch her.

"Take off my shirt." He stood with his arms at his sides. She obviously wasn't moving fast enough. "Take it off," he repeated again more forcefully and damned if she didn't shiver. What was it about him being bossy that sent chills racing over her body and her sex clenching in need? She was depraved. That had to be it.

She stepped up to him and decided to start at the bottom and work her way up. When her fingers fumbled with one of the buttons, she bit back a curse. She took a deep breath and then finally undid the last one. After pushing the shirt off his shoulders, she just stood staring at his bare chest. She ran her hands down his muscled arms, tracing the bull tattoo with a smile. He was standing so close she could feel his breath on her head and blowing against the strands of her hair. Her hands moved to trail over his pecs, then down to his abs. She could feel the muscles rippling under her fingertips, could hear him inhale with forced slowness. In her peripheral vision she saw his hands clench and unclench. She spread out her palm over his chest and could feel the racing of his heart, feminine pride running through her that she had an obvious effect on him. But then he stepped back, once again not touching her, and frustration welled.

After he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, her mouth dropped open in shock. He had to do that _now_? He pulled out something from the freezer, something else from the refrigerator, and then reached over to open a drawer to pull out a spoon. When he walked out from behind the counter, she saw a pint of ice cream and the spoon in one of his hands and chocolate syrup in the other.

"Chocolate chip cookie dough. Lucky told me it was your favorite."

As impossible as it seemed, her heart swelled even more. But she was _not_ in the mood for food right now. "I thought we were going to…." Her voice trailed off as she gestured towards the bed.

"Oh, we are." He paused. "Lie down."

Her brows creased. Surely he didn't mean…

"You're still standing." His eyes glinted wickedly. She felt her own eyes widen. He couldn't intend to… "Actually, hold these for a second." He handed her the items he held in his hands and then disappeared into the other room. When he walked back in, he was carrying a couple of towels which he spread out on top of the sheets. "Okay," he said, taking the containers back from her. "Now…Lie down."

Oh, he did intend. A dark thrill shot through her. She could feel the liquid arousal pooling at her very center. An arousal that spread straight to her toes and up to the top of her head. Her legs barely carried her to the bed. She climbed on top in what she hoped was a seductive pose, and glancing down to see the erection pushing impressively against his pants and then up towards the fire she now saw in Dante's eyes, she knew she was successful. She laid down on top of the towels and let her head fall back against the pillows. He walked over to the bed and laid the ice cream, syrup, and spoon by her head. He kneeled on the bed to her left and brought his hands to her pants.

"Lift." His voice was gruff and she tilted her hips up so he could draw her pants and panties down her legs and toss them to the floor. Her breath felt strangled in her throat as he brushed the tip of one finger down the length of her very wet slit. "Somehow I knew I'd find you like that."

"Oh, God," she half breathed, half moaned.

He stood up only long enough to shed his jeans and boxers and then he was straddling her waist. How was she supposed to wait? She needed him inside of her. Now. Impatient, she lifted an arm, grabbed the chains around his neck and yanked his head down to hers. Mouths and tongues collided, teeth clashed, and passions flared. His cock nudged her belly and she could feel it swell against her. He tore his mouth free from hers and struggled to catch his breath.

"You are too damn distracting." He took a deep breath and her hazy eyes watched as he grabbed the ice cream. He pulled the lid off and picked up the spoon. He dipped it inside and came out with a big scoop. "Want some?"

She wanted something alright. He started to bring the spoon towards her mouth but then tilted it and let the ice cream fall in between her breasts. She gasped at the icy cold sensation, could feel it start trickling down towards her stomach.

"Oops," he said.

"Bastard," she said as she drew in a breath, but there was no heat behind her words and he just laughed.

He scooped up some more ice cream and this time he did bring it to her lips. She opened her mouth and he slipped the spoon inside. She licked up all the ice cream, keeping her eyes locked on his the whole time and she felt his cock jerk against her stomach. When she glanced down and saw some of the ice cream had started melting around where his erection rested against her, her mouth watered.

He then dropped several scoops of ice cream over her breasts and stomach in quick succession and she arched up and bit down on her lip. He temporarily set the ice cream aside and reached for the chocolate syrup. He opened it and turned the bottle over, squeezing, and she watched as the dark liquid poured out of the nozzle onto her body. A long, drawn out moan escaped from her lips as he started to rub the syrup and ice cream all over her breasts and stomach. Shivers wracked her body. Too cold. Too hot. Her core throbbed, and oh God, she ached. She ached all over.

"Do you know how fucking hot you look right now?" he asked her. And then his mouth closed over a nipple and she couldn't speak at all. His tongue rubbed against the hard peak and then he drew it between his teeth and playfully bit down. She arched up and her hands went to the back of his head as she threw her head back against the pillows. She was going to explode.

He moved to her other breast and reached for the chocolate syrup again, this time keeping his mouth at her nipple and lapping it up as it poured down, his tongue making darting motions against the swollen point. She whimpered when she felt mini-tremors claim her sex.

"Too….much," she finally gasped out and his mouth moved up to hers in a hard, possessive kiss. She could taste the ice cream and syrup as their tongues mingled. So good. So damn good.

"Not enough," he countered as he pulled back. He dragged himself down her body, taking the ice cream and syrup with him. Straddling her legs now, he dropped some ice cream right over her slick folds. Her hips shot off the bed and she cried out. She thought he told her to spread her legs wider but couldn't be sure with the roaring in her ears from her pounding pulse. She felt his hands at her thighs, spreading her and then they were stroking over her folds, spreading her there too until she felt the stream of chocolate syrup right against her clit. Her hips jerked again and her breath was coming out of her throat in strangled cries. He lapped up and down the length of her once, twice, three times, and the throbbing increased, the tension settled and tightened low in her belly. She could barely see through the passion clouding her vision but she made out Dante grabbing the spoon and lifting out another scoop of the now mostly melted ice cream.

"I think I'm about to discover a new favorite flavor. Too bad they won't be selling this one in the stores." With that, he brought the ice cream into his mouth, lowered his head to her sex and pushed his tongue deep inside of her. She screamed and immediately started spasming against his relentless mouth and tongue. Her whole body shook and she felt tears burn at the corners of her eyes with the intensity of her release.

"Jesus," he groaned after he pulled his mouth away from her swollen flesh. When he brought his lips up to hers again, she could taste the sticky sweetness, could smell the desire. She was lost. So completely lost. When she focused on his eyes as she struggled to catch her breath, she saw such an intense desperation staring back at her, it penetrated way past her heart.

She could feel the head of his cock at the entrance to her body and she tried to move enough to bring him inside of her and moaned in frustration when he didn't budge. He framed her face with his hands and she didn't even care that they were smeared with chocolate. He placed a soft kiss on top of the bandages on her cheek.

"Tell me to fuck you, sweetheart."

She was glad his hands were covering what she was sure was a blush that crept onto her cheeks.

"Please," he murmured against her lips.

She brought her hands up to frame his face the way his were doing to hers. "Fuck…fuck me," she managed.

He pushed a couple of inches inside of her. "Again," he croaked.

"Fuck me," she pleaded. "Make love to me."

"Yes," he groaned and then thrust all the way to her womb, his mouth covering her cry. He remained motionless inside of her for several seconds before he started to move, before he started that slow, sensual glide in and out of her body. But it was only slow for a few more moments until something deep and primal flared between them and his hips started to hammer against her even harder. She stretched to accommodate him, could feel herself clasping at him with each deep stroke. He braced his hands on either side of her head and hers trailed down his back and then lower until her nails were digging into his ass, trying to bring him even closer as her legs wrapped around him. He grunted but his mouth never left hers. The pressure built and built, until she finally shattered in pieces around him, her sex gripping him and not letting go even as she felt him jerk and spill inside her, harsh groans flowing from his lips into hers as cries of his name dripped into his. Through the shudders, sweat, syrup, and melted ice cream between them, she knew only one thing. The "pretty sure" in love with him turned into a head over heels no turning back.


	18. Chapter 18

Note:

This was not a planned chapter but today's episode pissed me off. Don't get me wrong. I LOVED the Lante we got, but we were promised more and were cheated once again. I hate Guza. That is all. Oh, and this probably isn't for the easily offended (or underaged if I've never said that before). Fair warning. (And forgive any typos/errors, I edited quickly)

* * *

**Chapter 18**

"I think I might be stuck to you," Dante said finally as he stared down at Lulu. He lost track of how much time had passed since he was pretty sure his head exploded the moment he tasted the ice cream and chocolate mixed with Lulu's sweet juices against his tongue. His cock twitched inside of her and the subtle lifting of her hips against his had him biting back a groan.

"I'm not complaining," she responded with a sigh. He swallowed back the emotion he felt as Lulu looked up at him with those exquisite eyes. Shit, when did he start using words like exquisite? But damned if he couldn't get lost in every fleck of color that swam in them. He was in trouble. Big fucking trouble.

"You've got chocolate on your face." He stroked a finger along one cheek, then the other, being careful around her bandages. "And in your hair." He ran one of the thick blonde locks through his fingers.

"It was worth it." She stretched languidly underneath his weight, the movement causing his cock to slide almost completely out of her. His semi-hard but getting harder cock. What was it about her that seemed to keep him in a perpetual state of bone-deep need and readiness to be inside of her? He tried to shift his weight over to one of his elbows to keep from crushing her but she made a sound of protest. "I like the way you feel on top of me."

"And I like you breathing," he responded even as he let some of his weight fall back on her. When she just smiled at him and ran one of her hands idly along the skin on his back, his gut clenched. He wasn't sure how his dick would survive having her living with him 24 fucking 7, much less the rest of him – that part he was trying not to think about. _Living with him_. He hadn't even thought twice about it when he suggested it to Lucky last night after he went back to the hospital. The ruthless workout he put himself through had succeeded in taking most of the edge off but he still struggled to keep the anger inside every time he thought about what that fucking bastard had put her through. The need to protect her was so intense he didn't know what to do with it.

Lucky had been hesitant at first, but his agreement that Lulu couldn't stay with him any longer had gone a long way towards convincing him. And after another warning of what he would do to him if he hurt his sister, the hesitation had turned to reluctant acceptance. And here he was now wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into, but he couldn't say he regretted it. He had been honest with Lulu when he told her he couldn't get her out of his head, that he wanted her, needed her. And yeah, he had bought her damn book. So what? But he remembered how the look of pleasure on her face as she held it up to him had a rush of tenderness snaking through his system. Not to forget about what happened _after_. No, he wouldn't be forgetting that at all.

He pushed himself a little deeper back into Lulu and was rewarded by a ragged moan. Or wait…that could have been him. He kissed her lips lightly. "You know what I just realized?"

She arched her hips up again. "Hmm?"

"I forgot I had whipped cream in the fridge too."

She seemed to contemplate that and then shot him a look that could only be called interest. She bit down on her lower lip before she spoke again. "Get off me."

Concerned about the sudden shift, he stared down at her. "You okay?"

"Yes." He felt his eyes widen when she patted him on the ass. "Now get off."

With a groan, he rolled over and felt the loss of her heat immediately. Looking down at himself and then at her, he saw that they were both a sticky, sweaty mess. She got out of the bed slowly, stretched again and looked over her shoulder with a smile. He felt his mouth go dry as she started walking towards the kitchen, his eyes mesmerized by the gentle sway of her hips, the curve of her ass. Damn, she was the hottest thing he ever laid eyes on.

When she pulled open the refrigerator and took out the can of whipped cream, he was pretty sure his heart rate skyrocketed. She walked back over to the bed but didn't lie back down. He held out a hand for the whipped cream but she just shook her head.

"Oh, no. This is for me. It's my turn." She followed that last part by licking her lips and his cock got impossibly harder.

She moved to the foot of the bed and stood there, crooking a finger at him. "Come here."

He obeyed like an eager puppy as he moved to the edge of the bed and dangled his legs over the mattress with her standing in between them. Her tempting breasts were almost eye level and he couldn't resist sliding a hand around her waist and bringing her closer until he could suck one nipple into his mouth. She moaned as she leaned into him, her free hand moving up to tangle in his hair. He rolled the hard bud with his lips, tugged at it with his teeth, her whimpers spurring him on. When her breast popped free of his mouth, he lowered his head and ran his tongue down her stomach, tasting some of the dried chocolate. He let out a frustrated breath when she pulled him back up by tugging on his hair.

She shook the can of whipped cream, the movement causing her breasts to bounce gently. He was pretty sure he was becoming obsessed with those breasts, those perfect nipples. Possibly…probably…obsessed with her. She tilted the can and squirted some of the foamy cream on one of her fingers. She brought it to his lips and he opened his mouth eagerly, letting his tongue curl around her fingertip, licking up the sweetness and letting it slide down his throat. He sucked and nipped at her finger and heard her gasp softly. When he glanced up at her, her hair was falling forward across her face but he could still make out the eyes that sparked with lust down at him. She visibly swallowed as she slid her finger out of his mouth, seemed to hesitate before applying some more whipped cream to her finger. This time she spread it over his lips and then proceeded to bend down to slide her tongue around the perimeter of his mouth. He groaned and lifted his hands to play with her nipples, wincing when her teeth bit down on his lip. She slid her tongue through his lips and engaged his in a sexy kiss while his fingers pinched her nipples and then soothed them with his thumbs. When he lowered one hand to her wet center and thrust a finger inside, she released a soft cry into his mouth. She seemed to stumble a little when she pulled back that time, bracing her free hand on his shoulder. His finger stroked around her clit and satisfaction raced through him at her panting breaths.

Lifting the can again, she tilted it upside down over his bull tattoo and squeezed the nozzle. His groin tightened when she started licking it up with her tongue….slowly. His hands released their hold on her, a necessary action seeing as how he needed to clench them before he lost it completely.

When she poured some whipped cream over the end of one of his chains and then brought it into her mouth and sucked on it, the action pulling at his neck, his cock jutted painfully up towards his abdomen. Jesus, who would have thought he'd be turned on by that? The distant, coherent part of his brain realized he was turned on just by her drawing breath.

Before giving him a chance to recover, a huge stream of whipped cream landed against his chest and nipples and he sucked in a breath. She set the can down on the bed beside him and then her hands were moving over his chest. Fuck, the coolness of the cream and the warmth of her hands felt good. She spread the whipped cream all over his chest and then down to his stomach. He could feel his muscles rippling, and when her hands moved back up, no doubt she could feel the harsh pounding of his heart below her fingertips. Her fingers tweaked his nipples and then her mouth covered one and started licking. Then sucking. Then biting. _Je-sus_. He could her moan, and he felt his balls tighten even more painfully. His vision sparked and he had to squeeze his eyes shut as her mouth trailed all over his chest and stomach. He willed his cock not to embarrass him.

When his eyes opened again, Lulu was suddenly kneeling in between his legs staring at his cock. _Holy shit_.

"Lulu." His voice was so hoarse, he barely recognized it.

She was biting her lip again and he could see nervousness in her eyes as she looked up at him. "I've never…ah…you know."

He prayed for willpower. "Had a cock in your mouth?" The words came out strangled and instantly her cheeks turned a deep shade of pink. He didn't know why he liked making her blush so much. She finally gave her head a brief shake and he had to clench his hands in the sheets again.

"Good," he muttered, not able to hold back the feelings of possessiveness and jealousy of anyone else having that kind of intimacy with her. But he fought back the raging lust clawing at him. "You don't have to –"

"I want to."

When her fingers reached out to brush against his balls and then up the length of his swollen cock to finally sweep up the drop of pre-cum that had pearled against the tip, he prayed for mercy.

"Fuck," he ground out. His response seeming to spur her on, she reached over for the whipped cream again and squeezed some over his cock. His whole body jerked. He could feel the vein bulging, could have sworn he felt every single nerve ending as she placed her hands on his thighs and flicked her tongue against the rigid length of him. He was pretty sure he was dying, but damn it would be worth it to go out feeling this. His fingers threaded in her hair and held her to him while hers gripped the base of his shaft and then pulled it so her lips could slide over him. He groaned painfully as he watched the head of his cock disappear in her mouth, then another inch, and another.

"Jesus Christ, Lulu," he muttered out on a gasp, his fingers tightening in her hair. Every primal urge was roaring at him to thrust but he held himself back as she struggled to take as much of him as she could. He groaned when he felt himself touch the back of her throat. Her movements were at first tentative and awkward, but to him it was perfection.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck_. Her mouth was amazing. She was amazing. And he was positive there was no way in hell he could last much longer. She moaned around him and he could feel the vibrations around his cock and they seemed to shoot straight up to his brain. When her teeth grazed him, he felt himself jerk, heard himself curse and he couldn't resist withdrawing a couple of inches from her mouth and then thrusting gently forward. He could feel her trying to relax her throat around him and then she seemed to hum in desire, one of her hands moving to cup his balls. _Holy hell_. He guided her mouth back and forth a few more times before he felt the orgasm hurtling forward.

"Shit, Lulu, I'm going to –"

He tried to pull out of her mouth, but her fingernails dug into him, and that was it. Harsh sounds sputtered from his lips while he felt himself empty inside of her mouth. Black spots formed behind his lids as he felt her mouth swallowing around him. Pleasure like he'd never felt before caused his whole body to shake. He lifted her head from him and crushed his mouth against hers. The kiss was demanding bordering on primal but he couldn't get enough of her. He wanted to bring all of her inside of him.

Pulling back, his hands cupped her face, his eyes locked into the depths of hers. "Lulu, I…." Some foreign emotion tugged at him, but words failed at his lips. He scooted forward and lifted her up, centering her over him. Keeping one hand on her hip, he moved his other to his cock.

"Ride me." He was well aware the words sounded like a plea, and she touched his face with a gentleness that almost broke him. Then she sank down onto him and he sank into heaven, the smooth, wet heat of her. He felt himself harden again inside of her as her walls squeezed around him. She threw her head back with a moan. His hands slid down to her waist and hers wrapped around his neck. She lifted herself up and then slowly lowered herself down again until he couldn't go any deeper. Then she began to ride in purposeful, erotic movements on top of him. He could see the sweat break out on her skin, see her face twist in pleasure. His hold on her waist increased as he helped to grind her against him. He could feel the folds of her sex start clamping around him just as he felt himself twitch inside of her, knowing he was going to come again. Her breaths came in gasps. He couldn't hear his own, could only register the thumping of his heart and the feel of her around him. He moved her hips in a way that had him rubbing up against her clit. She cried out his name as her release claimed her, triggered his own. He thought he groaned out her name, could feel her milking him dry. He fell back on the bed with her collapsed against him. His chest ached. And when he looked at her one more time before his eyes closed, he knew he shook from more than just his orgasm.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Lulu mandated separate showers.

Dante had given her such a despondent look that she almost gave in and changed her mind. Almost.

"You know what would happen," she had told him. "And if you get your hands on me again and _that_," she emphasized with a pointed look towards his midsection, "in me again, I won't be walking for a week."

Of course, his response had been to give her a smug look and proceed to kiss her in a way that just about had her begging and not caring how sore she'd be afterward. Then he went into the bathroom and told her he'd leave the door open for her. _Please_. She had willpower. So what if she headed towards the bathroom twice? She turned back around, didn't she?

He came out of the bathroom naked, and damn it, the man really was trying to kill her. The way he looked with his wet, disheveled hair, those dark eyes spearing hers, that body that had been over hers, under hers, inside of hers, the stray drops of water trickling from his chest and stomach down to his…Okay, this was insane. She hopped off the bed, grabbed one of her bags and walked past his smiling face, retreating to the bathroom. When she closed the door behind her, she locked it. Then leaned back against it with a sigh. She was falling way too hard, way too fast, and couldn't make up her mind on whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

It wasn't just the sex, which, she thought as she looked down at herself, was inventive, amazing, and definitely intense. It was how she felt when she was with him, and way too hard to explain at the same time. All she knew is that she was pretty sure if Dante were not in her life, it would be one of the greatest losses she could experience. She thought it was more than just casual on his side, with the way he touched her, the way he looked at her, the things he said to her. But it was the things he didn't say that were nagging at her. And the fear that if she told him how she felt now, it would send him running.

* * *

She took what was probably a longer than necessary shower. When she walked back into the other room, she found Dante in the kitchen spooning some pasta onto a couple of plates. He looked up and smiled at her, that small gesture tugging at her heart. She walked around the bed and sank down on top of it. She supposed she should have sat at the table, but the bed was closer and she found herself needing to sit down. This wasn't going to work. Staying here with Dante, spending hours alone with him, sleeping in the same bed.

He carried over the plates and stared down at her. "Hey, are you okay? Is it your head?"

She glanced up at him, relieved, and okay, maybe a little disappointed, to see he had put on a pair of boxers. He was staring at her in concern. It would have been easier if he acted like he didn't care.

"Is this just sex?" she blurted out. And then she immediately squeezed her eyes shut and bit back a curse. She was an idiot. A desperate idiot.

She felt the bed sink further, knew he had sat down next to her. There were a few seconds of silence. And then a few more. "Can you open your eyes, please?"

She lifted them slowly, afraid of what she'd see. But his face was blank, almost carefully so. He handed her one of the plates of spaghetti and she let it rest in her lap.

"Just forget I –"

"It's not," he cut her off. She saw some emotion flash in his eyes, just couldn't figure out _what_ emotion. "I'm trying…" He seemed to struggle for words. "It's not just sex."

There was no question in his voice, no uncertainty. Nothing in the way he was looking at her right now indicated that he wasn't being genuine. But he said nothing more. She held in a sigh. For her, for right now, it would be enough.

Forcing a smile on her face, she picked up the fork and twirled some spaghetti around it. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't apologize." The words were firm, laced in annoyance that appeared to be directed at himself. He was silent for a long time before he spoke again. "You're different from any woman I've ever met…and from that first time it was never just about sex."

This time she didn't need to force the smile. She took a bite of the pasta after she felt her stomach rumble.

"Ma would kill me if she knew I was feeding you that."

"Why?"

He took a bite himself before answering. "Store-bought noodles and sauce from a jar."

"Ah." She let out a small laugh. "The one time I met her, she was pretty serious about her food."

"She would test me growing up to make sure I knew my way around the kitchen. Whether it was pizza, pasta, gelato, or cannoli, if I didn't pass…no stickball for me."

She could actually picture him as a boy in her mind, getting messy in the kitchen and then playing around in the streets. She let her smile grow wider. It wasn't the first time she heard such affection in his voice when he spoke of his mother. "You're pretty close, huh?"

He nodded. "She got pregnant with me in high school. No matter how fast she had to grow up and how much her life changed after that, she's always been there for me. Always supported me." He paused. "You've never really spoken much about your mom."

Lulu felt a pang in her heart. She knew what it was like to have that kind of a close relationship with your mother. Knew even more what it felt like to lose it. "My mom suffered a severe mental breakdown almost ten years ago. She really hasn't had many lucid moments since then."

She felt Dante's hand touch her knee. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. Even now it was still hard to talk about, to think about, but she told Dante everything, all the while his fingers massaging soothing circles in her skin, taking away some of her tension. "Any progress she's ever seemed to make always gets wiped out by some bigger setback. I visited her in Paris once, after my third book came out. She didn't know who I was." She wiped away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "I haven't been able to go back or even call since. That's bad, right?"

He put their half-eaten plates of pasta on the shelf over the bed. "It's not bad." He scooted over closer to her, pulled her the rest of the way to him. She let her head fall on his shoulder and felt his hand rubbing up and down her arm. His other hand brushed away another tear that had fallen. "I can't imagine how difficult that's been for you. But I believe that at least a part of her did know. And will always know. I have a feeling that no one forgets Lulu Spencer."

She tilted her head to look at him, all words failing. If she didn't love him before, she would have at that moment. She pressed her lips against his, her palm touching his cheek. His lips moved over hers in what had to be the most tender, yet deeply emotional kiss that she had ever experienced in her life. She responded to the kiss in a way she couldn't say with words. When they pulled apart, despite the arousal that started spreading through her, she couldn't fight back the yawn that escaped.

Instead of looking disappointed, he just smiled at her. "Get some sleep. You've had a rough few days."

Yet, unbelievably, they had been some of the best too. "At least we already had dessert," she said, smiling back.

His smile turned into a grin. "The best I've ever had." He slipped a finger underneath the strap of her cami. "You think maybe I could at least convince you to sleep naked?"

"No," she said on a laugh and then lowered her voice. "But I might let you cop a feel or two."

His eyes heated. "I'll take it."

He wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled against him, closing her eyes. She let her mind empty of thoughts even as her heart felt fuller than ever.

* * *

She opened her eyes to sunlight coming in the window and Dante's mouth closed over a breast. He had pulled her cami up above her breasts and his tongue was doing delightfully wicked things to her nipple. Her head still hazy with sleep, she threw her head back against the pillow with a moan as desire stirred in her belly. Judging by the feel of his erection on her thigh, he had already shed his boxers and was getting harder by the second. She tried to focus on him, felt his hand creep under the waistband of her pajama shorts. His already dark eyes seemed to turn to black.

"You're not wearing panties." His voice was hoarse.

She managed a brief shake of her head and then bit down on her lip when one of his fingers pushed inside of her. She knew she was already wet for him. It was almost an instantaneous state around him. He braced himself over her and she gasped in shock when he simply pushed the fabric to the side and thrust inside of her. Her sensitive muscles clamped around him hard and she cried out when he started to move.

He looked down at her. "Is this okay?" The words came out pained.

She managed a nod and encouraged him by arching her hips against his, sending him deeper.

They both froze at the knock on the door. Then moaned in frustration, on edge.

Before Dante could so much as move off her, they heard the unmistakable sound of a lock turning, the door opening.

"Oh!" Lulu heard the voice gasp out and looked over Dante's shoulder in horror at Olivia Falconeri's shocked expression, her eyes wide and mouth dropped open. Dante jumped off of her like she was on fire, which ironically a minute ago she had been.

"Ma! Jesus!" He let loose a string of curses and Lulu threw the sheet over her head. This was _not_ happening. She heard the door open again, then close, knew that Olivia had walked out.

She slid the sheet down to just below her eyes, glanced over to her left to see Dante yanking on his boxers and a pair of pants.

"Oh no. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm going to hell." Her voice was muffled through the sheet covering her mouth.

Dante laughed, but it sounded strangled. "You are not going to hell." He cursed again. "I'm sorry about this. _Really_ sorry." He walked over to the dresser and pulled out a shirt from one of the drawers and slipped it on, working on the buttons. "She'll be standing on the other side of the door waiting for me to let her in."

"Oh God," she moaned again. No, she wasn't going to hell. This had to _be_ hell.

* * *

Dante watched Lulu hiding under the sheet in a mixture of amusement and sympathy. The embarrassment that he was feeling was overshadowed by irritation with his mother. His cock had gotten a cold shower that was for sure. He cringed. No way was he going to be able to forget this or live it down for awhile. Shit. Fuck. Damn.

Lulu had gotten out of bed finally and was rummaging through one of her bags. She pulled out a t-shirt and threw it over the cami she had pushed back down into place. She fidgeted with her shorts and then stood awkwardly with her arms crossed over her chest by the bed before deciding to walk over to the couch and sit down. Her posture was stiff and the look on her face said she wanted to bolt. He threw her another look of regret before walking over to the door and pulling it open. Sure enough his mom was standing there waiting.

He narrowed his eyes at her as she walked past. "Some people actually wait for someone to answer the door before letting themselves in."

Lulu was glancing nervously at his mother over the back of the couch.

"I've never had to before," she said pointedly. But then had the grace to look ashamed as she sent both of them an apologetic stare. "But I will certainly do so from now on. I am sorry," she added genuinely. But Dante suspected she was also trying to fight back a smile. He just shook his head. His mother walked over to the couch and Lulu looked wary. "Lulu Spencer," she said warmly. "We met once. You probably don't remember since I'm sure you meet so many people."

"Uh…I remember." Lulu cleared her throat. "Olivia Falconeri. It's nice to see you again."

"What are you doing here, Ma?" Dante tried to keep the impatience out of his voice.

Olivia glanced down at the bag she held in her hands. "I thought I would come over and make some omelets for breakfast. There's enough for three."

Dante saw how his mother stared in speculation between him and Lulu, could have sworn he also saw the wheels in her head spinning. Which meant breakfast would turn into twenty plus questions. Hell fucking no. He couldn't deal with that right now. He walked over to the nightstand and grabbed his holster and gun.

"I'd love to stay," he lied. "But I need to get into the station." Well, hey, that part was true. "But it'd be good for Lulu to have company."

His mother looked at him suspiciously but headed towards the kitchen. When he looked over at Lulu, he saw her eyes widen in disbelief, could almost feel the daggers shooting out of them.

"Dante? Can you come over here please?" Her voice was high, tight. When he stepped in front of her, he had to catch his stumble after she reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked his head down to hers.

"Don't you _dare_ leave me here," she whispered furiously.

"You'll be fine," he whispered back. "She doesn't bite."

"If my dad caught me having sex with you, I wouldn't leave you. You'd probably be dead either way, but I would at least keep your dead body company."

Her eyes were desperate and he tried to pretend he didn't see it. "I have to go." He looked over her head to see his mom taking out groceries from the bag but sneaking glances at them at the same time. Yeah, he definitely couldn't stay. "I will warn you though…that woman knows what you're thinking before you think it."

Her grip on his shirt tightened. "If you leave, I swear to you the only person you'll be having sex with tonight is yourself."

He was sure his face reflected his pain at that. But he pried her fingers away from his shirt and stepped back, shooting her yet another look of regret. "I'm sorry." His mother didn't even pretend to keep herself busy with taking food out of the bag anymore. "I'll call you later, swe—" He cut himself off when he saw his mother grin. "I'll call you later. Stay put today," he said firmly before retreating from the apartment like the coward he was. He hoped the fact that he felt guilty about it would make up for it later.

* * *

He left. Lulu watched the door close in shock. That bastard coward left. Nerves raked at her as she looked over at Olivia. She recalled a similar feeling right before her mom had given her "the talk."

When Olivia smiled warmly at her, her brain forced the muscles in her mouth to turn up in a smile in return. Then she stood up. "I'll be right back," she said before escaping to the bathroom.

She took a few deep breaths. She was overreacting. She knew she was. She was a grown, adult woman. Then she scoffed. A grown adult woman who had been caught getting familiar in the most biblical of senses with the son of the woman currently making freaking omelets in the other room. She groaned. She allowed herself a few more minutes of self-pity before giving herself a mini-pep talk to buck up and get the hell out of the bathroom. But her steps were reluctant in making her way out towards the kitchen. Olivia was already sitting at the table with two plates of omelets and two glasses of orange juice.

Lulu sat in the chair across from Olivia and folded her hands in her lap. She tried not to squirm under Olivia's watchful gaze.

"Honey…" Olivia laughed. "You look like you're being sent to your death."

Lulu released a breath she realized she had been holding in only when she almost choked on it.

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked her in concern.

"I'm mortified," she admitted finally. "Embarrassed. Horrified. Traumatized. Any of those will do." She knew her cheeks were flaming.

Olivia took a bite of her omelet. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll share my most embarrassing story…" And she did exactly that. Lulu sputtered on her orange juice and stared in disbelief at the woman across from her. Were they really having this conversation? And why was she strangely starting to feel at ease?

Olivia sent her another warm smile. "I think we should start over, beginning now…pretend I didn't see a thing. The last thing I will say on the matter is I'm sorry for barging in."

"Deal." Lulu smiled back at her, trying her best to push what happened earlier out of her mind. She lifted her fork and took a bite of the food. "Oh. This is amazing."

"I know," Olivia responded with a wink that had Lulu laughing. "But just to let you know, other topics and questions may not be off limits."

"I figured as much. Also figure that's the reason Dante ran out of here with his tail between his legs," she muttered under her breath.

"I'd say you know my son pretty well."

"I really haven't known him that long."

"Who says how long you know a person has anything to do with it?"

Lulu shrugged, debating on how much she wanted to share. "He's a very hard man to figure out. I never feel like I'm on solid ground."

Olivia ate some more of her omelet and was silent for several moments. Lulu didn't think she was going to respond but then she spoke again. "Like I said, you know Dante well."

After finishing up the food over small talk and comfortable silences, Olivia brought the dishes over to the sink and then returned to the table. "So, how are you doing, sweetie?" When Lulu's eyebrows creased in confusion, she continued. "I read the article in the paper. Can see the evidence on your face. I'm so sorry." Olivia reached across the table and gently touched Lulu's hand. Surprisingly, Lulu found herself both touched and soothed by the gesture. After one casual conversation several months ago and one humiliating moment not more than a couple of hours ago, she had somehow transitioned into some place where Olivia felt like an old friend. Or like the motherly presence she had so been missing the past several years. Perhaps that's why she found herself telling Olivia everything. Well, almost everything. There were some things better left unsaid. And Olivia had listened to it all, throwing in a supportive word or touch here and there.

"And through this all," Olivia began. "When did you realize you were in love with my son?"

Lulu's mouth opened. Then she just shook her head. "Dante warned me about you."

"Of course he did." She sounded proud about that.

"I shouldn't," Lulu finally said. "He has a lot of annoying qualities." She expected Olivia to look offended but instead she just smiled and made a sound of agreement. "Do you know he bought my book?"

Olivia's eyebrows raised at that. "He doesn't like to read."

"It's those kinds of things that make the annoying qualities seem almost charming." She sighed. "I don't think he feels exactly what I feel."

"Oh, honey," Olivia's lips turned up into another smile. "If you really think that, then maybe you really don't know him very well at all."

Maybe. Maybe not, Lulu thought to herself. But she was more determined than ever to find out.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

_Is this just sex?_

Lulu's question kept echoing in Dante's mind. He was glad she had closed her eyes after the words left her mouth. She didn't see how much those four words rocked him so far out of the safe zone he was trying to stay within. Something that was becoming extremely more difficult. He made every effort to keep his feelings about Lulu tucked away in some corner of his mind that he could pull out when he was ready…if he was ready. _Ready for what?_ The hell if he knew what to do with them.

But that question seemed to shake those feelings around in his head and forced him to at least respond in some way. He wanted to be angry. In some ways he was. Angry at her for thinking he could possibly be using her just as a warm body. Angry at himself because that was exactly what he'd done with the other women he'd been with – forget about the fact that the using had been mutual. And then the undeniable truth that no fucking way in hell was this thing between them just sex. Although he did allow himself a moment to reflect on just how phenomenal that sex was, he knew it was more than that. Along with his mother, she was one of the strongest women he knew, and it was a strength he saw almost immediately after meeting her. He admired her. He liked talking to her. He liked sleeping next to her. He found himself thinking about her way more than he probably should have. Could see her face in his mind even now. But how could he put a label on what that was when he had absolutely nothing to compare it to?

He was a coward. He knew he was. This morning was proof of that. His mother would have somehow sensed what he was feeling and pounced. No matter how good her intentions were, his own intentions were not to end up trampled and exposed. He winced when he recalled the look on Lulu's face before he walked out the door – disbelief, desperation, and something bordering on being really pissed off. He knew Lulu could handle his mother, no doubt in his mind. She may not want to do much physical handling of him right now, but she'd get over it. He hoped.

He remembered waking up this morning with Lulu pressed against him, her body slightly turned towards him. He had looked at her and had the feeling that he wouldn't mind waking up like that every morning. The thought was sobering. Just as the sight of her, and the tempting view of her breasts over the camisole, was too enticing to resist.

"…are back."

Dante jerked his head up, saw Lucky looking at him. "What?"

"I said the DNA results are back. What's with you?" His eyes were suspicious. When Dante arrived at the station that morning, Lucky immediately questioned how Lulu was doing but said nothing more after Dante assured him she was fine. Dante suspected that was on purpose.

He cleared his throat. "Nothing. What'd they show?"

"The blood was definitely not all Lulu's." Lucky's voice held a thread of excitement that Dante was feeling himself. This was the first piece of evidence they'd gotten. "No fingerprints, but this is a start. Can't find a match with anything on file from previous cases but that would have been a long shot anyway."

"We need DNA samples from Bennett, Carter, and Williams."

"DA says we need more probable cause to even hope for a warrant."

Frustrated, but not surprised, Dante just shook his head. "So we'll ask them to volunteer it. See what shakes from that."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Ronnie just followed up with all three of them this morning to find out their whereabouts during the attack."

"And?"

"Carter's out," Lucky responded. "Father had a heart attack. He was at the hospital. More than one family member corroborated. One of the nurses on duty remembered seeing him somewhere within the range we think Lulu was attacked."

Again, Dante wasn't surprised. Before he could comment, Lucky continued. "But get this. Williams said he was with a woman. Woman backed him up."

"So?"

"The woman is Rebecca Reynolds."

Dante's eyebrows lifted. "Lulu's editor. I'm assuming by 'with' you mean _with_." At Lucky's nod, Dante let out a low whistle. "Now why wouldn't have either one of them mentioned that in their interviews? Especially Reynolds. She sat there and wrote down his name and didn't say a word."

"Damn good question. Ronnie says they told him they didn't think it was relevant."

"I don't like it," Dante commented.

Lucky made a sound in agreement. "Your car or mine?"

* * *

Lulu was going out of her mind. She'd been cooped up in the loft all day and was starting to get restless. Because she knew where she landed the last time she got restless, she stayed put but silently stewed about it. She wasn't used to sitting and doing nothing. She'd channel surfed the TV, watched a movie, made herself a sandwich from whatever she could scrounge up in the refrigerator for lunch, even failed at an attempt to take a nap. She had turned on her laptop hoping to write something but the motivation wasn't there. She called Maxie but ended the call shortly after she was on the receiving end of another lecture on why she should get out of Port Charles. She finally resorted to standing out on the fire escape for a few minutes just to get some fresh air. But she'd resisted snooping around the apartment – barely.

Olivia had ended up staying for most of the morning and Lulu had enjoyed her company. She remembered her parting words. "My son is fiercely protective, sometimes arrogant, and as stubborn as the bull on his shoulder," she had started and Lulu had worked to keep her face carefully blank – because that bull would forever have a different meaning for her that had nothing at all to do with stubbornness. "He cares about you. I can see it. My suspicion is he feels a lot more than that. Trust me, honey, you would not be staying here if he didn't. But he won't know what do about it, and he'll keep that heart of his guarded until you break through. Don't give up on him. I think you might end up being the best thing that ever happened to him."

Touched beyond words, she had stood there speechless, even after Olivia had drawn her into a hug, kissed her cheek and said goodbye.

When her cell phone rang, jolting her back to the present, she fished it out of her pocket and glanced at the caller ID. And frowned.

"Michael?" she asked after reluctantly deciding to take the call.

"Lulu, are you okay? I've been so worried about you. I saw the article. I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine," she responded.

"Where are you? Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm safe. And no, nothing." She paused. "Actually, there is no way I'm going to meet my deadline for the proposal they wanted on the next book. You'll probably need to talk to the publisher."

"Consider it done. You've had several requests for interviews, but I've declined each one."

"Thank you. I'm not talking to anyone right now."

"Lulu..." Michael began before she sensed some hesitation in his voice.

"What?"

"Your brother and another detective...Falconeri I think it was...were here awhile ago...asking more questions. They wanted a DNA sample. I'm afraid they believe I'm the one doing this to you." His voice wavered. "I would never do that to you. You have to know that. I've known you for years, Lulu. You believe me, don't you?"

Lulu felt her pulse begin to beat faster and she damned this whole case. Even damned her brother and Dante in some small way. Because she didn't know what to believe anymore. Doubts about every person she'd ever worked with had already started creeping into her mind.

_Fucking bitch!_ The harsh, angry words lanced through her head and she shuddered. Michael couldn't have done that...could he?

"Lulu?"

"I'm sorry, Michael. I have to go." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. This had to end soon. It had to. She couldn't keep living her life like this.

On edge, she jumped when her cell phone rang again a few minutes later. Tension left her body in a rush when she saw Dante's name flash on the screen.

She pushed the talk button. "Hi."

"Hey." That one word was said lowly, huskily, and it slid over her body like a caress. "Sorry I didn't call you sooner."

He had only left the apartment over nine hours ago but who was counting?

"Are you there?" he asked when she was silent.

God, she loved his voice. Then she scolded herself. She was supposed to be irritated with him. "I'm here." Well that sounded irritated at least.

"So, ah, I take it you're still upset about this morning."

"Hmm. Refresh my memory on what happened this morning." This time the pause was on his end. "Ohhhh. That's right. One minute you're inside of me and the next you're scrambling out the door acting like you were about to get neutered and leaving me with your very curious mother."

More silence.

"Yeah..." he finally came through on the other line, his voice sounding guilty. "You're still mad."

"I'm not mad," she declared. And she wasn't. Oh, if her conversation with Olivia had turned out any other way, she was sure she would be a lot more than mad. For now she was just enjoying making Dante squirm. "Much."

She smiled when she was met with more dead air.

"Open the door."

"What?" she asked confused but then there was a knock at the door. Well, actually it sounded more like a kick. She stared at it warily but walked over and pulled it open. Dante was standing on the other side with his phone held up to his ear with one hand, a bag dangling from his fingers. The other hand was holding a bouquet of roses and lilies. Her heart took a tumble when he held them out to her.

"Oh." The word was a half-breath, half-sigh. She took them and slowly lowered the phone from her ear into her pocket. "Damn you."

"I can always take them back." When he reached out to do just that, she held them closer and breathed in the fragrant petals.

"Absolutely not."

He grinned. "You're welcome."

"Maybe I'm not so mad," she grudgingly admitted.

He leaned in and placed a disarming kiss on her cheek, right over the cut that was now bandage-free. When did he get so….romantic?

"I've got burgers from Kelly's. And some more ice cream if you have a craving later." She felt his fingers slide over her wrist, then intertwine with hers. He brought his face closer. "And just for the record? The only time ice cream will ever taste as good anymore is if my tongue is inside of you eating you both up."

She shuddered involuntarily when his tongue licked her earlobe. Oh yes, there was the Dante Falconeri she was most familiar with. And who was she kidding? She was finding she loved all sides of the man. He pressed a brief kiss on her lips that left her wanting so much more before tugging on her hand and leading her to the table. She sat down while he took out the food and went to pour them something to drink. She was already taking a bite out of her burger when he returned to the table.

"So what did you and my mom talk about?"

She shook her head. "Nuh-uh. You'd know if you were there."

"Guess I deserve that."

"You guess right." No way was she sharing what she and Olivia had discussed.

She swirled a french fry around in the ketchup and bit off a piece. Then sighed.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"Michael called a few minutes before you did."

His lips formed a tight line and he put the burger back down on the plate. "What in the hell for?"

"He told me you wanted a DNA sample. Why?"

"Lulu, you shouldn't be talking to him or anyone else right now." That stubbornness she was getting quite familiar with edged into his voice.

"Even you?" she threw back.

"You know what I meant."

"Why do you need a DNA sample from him?" she repeated just as stubbornly.

"He's a suspect." Before she could even get in another word, he continued. "I know you said he wouldn't do this to you, but Lulu, sometimes people aren't what they seem. Sometimes a monster can hide behind a polite smile and a normal appearance."

"And what about you? Are you what you seem? How do I know I can trust you?"

He ran both hands through his hair before standing up and walking over to where she sat. She stared up at him, forced herself not to look away from the intensity of those dark eyes staring back at her. "Have I given you a reason not to trust me? Have I?" he demanded when she didn't answer fast enough.

"No." She reached out to grab onto his hand. "No," she repeated more firmly before blowing out a breath. "Why are we arguing?"

He just shook his head. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect you. Even if it pisses you off."

Yeah, she'd figured that much out on her own. "I don't know who to trust anymore," she admitted finally. "It scares the hell out of me that I can't count on anything or anyone that I used to. But I do trust you, Dante. I do. I'm sorry for making you think otherwise. I don't know what I'd do without you and Lucky."

"Don't apologize to me." He pulled her up and placed his hands on her waist. "Nothing can happen to you, Lulu." The words had trailed off to almost a whisper but each word held a desperation that didn't waver.

She touched a hand to his face. "Nothing will."

He turned his head so his lips brushed a kiss against her palm. Her skin tingled and she could feel her chest tighten. She let him lead her over to the couch and turned towards him after they sat down.

"There was a very trace amount of blood found by the car that didn't match yours."

Her eyes widened. "That's good news, right?" God knew she could use some of that.

"If we find a match it is. We don't have enough for a warrant to get the DNA samples so we tried to get the two guys we're looking at right now to volunteer them. Bennett is one of them."

"I still don't want to believe it's him." She held up a hand when he opened his mouth for what would have surely been a rehash of a few minutes ago. "But…I know you guys are going to look at every possibility. I know you'll find him…whoever he is."

"You have too much faith in me."

"Maybe you don't have enough in yourself," she challenged. "Wait. You said two. Who's the second?" When he didn't answer, she stared expectantly. "Dante."

"Richard Williams."

She looked at him blankly, the name not ringing a bell. "Who?"

"He works at the publishing company. Your editor gave us his name. She said he asked you out once."

She kept trying to search her memory but came up with nothing. "I don't remember." She shrugged. "I've gotten asked out a lot."

She heard him mutter something under his breath that she couldn't make out. "So," she continued. "Did either of them volunteer?"

"No," he bit out in frustration. "But they claimed it was because they felt we would try to pin it on them. We'll keep trying to get those warrants even if they only rule them out. Neither of them seemed to have any damage to their noses or faces but with the small amount of blood we found, that's not unexpected."

"But this is more than we've had before," she said with an optimism that she only half felt.

He made a non-committal noise and changed the subject. "When this is all over, I'll take you out for real."

She smiled at him. "I guess we have been doing this backwards, huh?"

"Little bit." He smiled back.

What was it about his smile that had things shifting back into place? "I'm not complaining." She hesitated for only a moment before climbing on top of him and straddling his lap. His eyes reflected surprise and more than a little heat. He slid his hands down her back until they settled right above her ass. She was developing a need for having his hands on her, she realized. Anywhere on her. When he leaned forward and tried to kiss her, she pulled back and pressed a finger against his lips. She could feel his growing erection underneath her and she had to bite down on her lip to stay focused.

"I guess you don't remember what I said this morning."

He looked lost.

"When I said you wouldn't be getting sex from me tonight."

Lost turned into pained. "Sweetheart…I thought we were past that." He visibly swallowed when she rubbed herself against him. Once. Twice. Three times. Oh, that felt good. "I brought you flowers," he reminded her. "And Kelly's…and ice cream."

Hoping she could pull off a role of tempting seductress even as her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, she started to unbutton her blouse, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. His eyes narrowed to slits, and she could see his tongue peek out through his teeth and push against his bottom lip. She kept the shirt on and just spread the sides farther apart. She could see the increased pace of the rise and fall of his chest as she trailed her fingers up her stomach, traced the top of each cup of her bra. She felt his hands fall lower, dig into her ass in an effort to move her closer. She reached behind her and grabbed his hands, lifted them, then pushed them into the couch on either side of his head. Lifting herself up, she brought her breasts to within centimeters of his mouth and he groaned.

"And that was very sweet of you," she practically purred.

She slowly sat back down on top of him and his breath expelled in a rush. "I told you you'd be having sex with yourself."

"Well, sweetheart, logistically that would be a challenge," he ground out. She rose up again, just enough that she could place her palm over the hard ridge straining against his pants. And squeezed. "Jesus."

She brought her lips to his, just barely brushed them, before she released his hands and slid off him, coming to her feet. "Maybe you'll have sex with me tonight," she said slowly.

"Thank you God."

She bit down on her lip again. _Just say it_, she ordered herself. "But first…you're going to get yourself off. And I want to watch."


	21. Chapter 21

Note:

Just wanted to take another opportunity to say how awesome you guys are. Love all your comments and am very appreciative of the feedback. Not many chapters left, but I hope you have all been enjoying them and also enjoy what's left :)

* * *

**Chapter 21**

Dante coughed, the ability to think rationally lost somewhere in between the words "get off" and "watch." His eyes were transfixed on the gorgeous woman standing not even two feet away from him. His eyes were level with her stomach, her low-rise pants giving him a tantalizing view of the curve of her hips, her bared belly button, a tiny peek of what looked to be pink panties underneath. He wanted to rip them off and bury himself inside of her. His eyes moved back up to the tease of perfect skin he saw in between the parted sides of her shirt and a barely there bra hiding breasts and nipples that he desperately wanted in his mouth, against his skin. When his eyes moved higher still to her face, he wondered if she realized her cheeks were flushed. He reached out to try to pull her closer but she stepped further away. And…did he just growl?

"Take off the pants, Detective. Then maybe I'll take you for a ride."

Her words shot straight to his groin as he felt his cock start to harden against said pants. Pants that were now way too tight.

"Do you know how sexy you are when you give orders?"

She smiled. "So…Take." She slid the sleeves of her shirt down her arms. "Them." She slid it the rest of the way off her body. Threw it at him. "Off."

He took a deep breath in as the shirt landed on his lap. _Jesus Christ_. The mixture between shyness and brazenness on her face was both fucking hot and completely endearing at the same time. He rose from the couch slowly, his eyes raking her body as an intense need filled him. He had the feeling he could die and would still need this woman. His gaze never wavered from hers when he yanked off his belt and threw it to the ground. Not when he kicked off his shoes nor when he bent lower to pull off his socks.

"I think I need some help," he said after standing back up straight.

"With what?"

"Taking them off," he teased.

"Please," she scoffed.

He undid the button on his pants, lowered the zipper carefully over his straining erection, some of the pressure immediately easing. Then he let his hands fall to his sides. "You'll need to do the rest."

She lifted her eyebrows at that. "No."

A silent battle seemed to be exchanged between them, part of him wanting to do exactly as she said, the other part wanting to get the upper hand, to have her underneath him, begging and screaming his name. He fought back a sigh as he gave in, his hands pushing the pants down his legs before he stepped out of them. He didn't miss the look of triumph that flashed over Lulu's face.

"Boxers too," she added.

He started to pull them down but froze when he saw her slide her pants down her legs. She shifted her feet and kicked them off to the side, leaving her in just her pink lacy bra and panties. He felt his cock jump, his mouth water. She was absolute perfection. Everything about her.

She walked back over to him, stood about a foot in front of him. Something passed between them when their eyes locked this time, when she lifted her hands and started unbuttoning his shirt. He didn't know what it was but he felt his heart kick hard against his chest, felt the air thicken. Nothing existed for him except for her. She'd get what she wanted, he'd do what she wanted, but he'd have this, he thought as he dragged her against him, trapping her hands between them, his mouth coming down hard and insistent over hers. There was no need to coax a response from her. She met every demanding thrust of his tongue, every slant of his mouth, with one of her own. His hands were pressed into her back, slowly made their way up until they ended up framing her face as they pulled apart. She blinked a couple of times, the little flecks of green in her hazel eyes seeming to swirl.

"You always do that," she whispered.

"What?" he asked, his voice strained, his whole body wanting her pressed up against him again.

"Make it so I can't think straight."

He smiled. "You have no idea."

She looked a little disgruntled but her lips reluctantly lifted and she took a deep breath. "No more stalling. The rest of it," she said with a nod and a gesture towards his open shirt and boxers.

"Yes, ma'am." He slipped the shirt off his shoulders and threw it to the side while she sat down on the table in front of the couch. He became temporarily distracted by the view he had looking down on her breasts, could see her nipples poking out through the skimpy fabric. He had to force himself to swallow and then he discarded his boxers, his cock immediately jutting up towards his midsection. He saw her chew at her lower lip for a moment before dragging her eyes back up to his face.

"Do it." Her voice was a little breathless and he let out a strangled laugh.

"I want you naked first. And that's not a request."

She narrowed her eyes a little, then shrugged. Her hands moved to behind her back. Seconds later, the bra was all but forgotten as it was added to the pile on the floor. She stood up from the table only long enough to slip the panties down her legs and off, leaving her gloriously naked. His balls tightened and his cock throbbed. Pulse pounding, he watched as her lips parted, her gaze on his hand that he had gripped around the base of his shaft. He stroked up in a hard, rough motion, then down. He heard her intake of breath and he tried to keep the curses going off in his head from making their way out of his lips. He didn't want to get off by his fucking hand. He wanted her heat surrounding him, the tight walls of her sex squeezing the life out of him.

"Spread your legs," he demanded, knowing his voice was harsh but he couldn't help it. Control was a very thin thread, and no person, no single thing, had ever seemed to test it the way Lulu Spencer did.

She seemed to debate before finally spreading her legs wide, giving him an unobstructed view of her sex.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath and his hand picked up the pace in working his cock. He could feel the moisture at the tip. When he imagined it was her body surrounding the length of him, he felt himself swell even more. He could have sworn he felt the blood rushing through his veins. Hunger beat at him when he saw the glistening folds and pale curls at her opening.

"This is turning you on." He had to force each word out of his mouth. She couldn't deny it. He was close, but at the same time release seemed impossible this way. He turned desperate eyes on Lulu. "Touch yourself." That flush reappeared on her cheeks. "Please," he groaned. After another few moments of hesitation, she slipped a finger inside of her and a soft sound he could barely make out escaped her lips when a second finger joined the first and starting sliding in and out. _Fucking hell_. "Come here," he pleaded hoarsely, sweat breaking out on his forehead as his hand stilled on his cock.

She drew both of her lips inward, her fingers withdrawing from the place Dante wanted to be firmly planted for at least the foreseeable future. She slid from the table down to the floor on her knees, crawled the short distance over towards him and stopped until she was between his legs and pressed against the couch. Her hair fell in waves, brushed against her breasts. Her eyes appeared clouded, or maybe that was just because his vision was starting to blur. On a ragged breath, he reached down and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his mouth and slipping the two fingers that had been inside of her into his mouth, tasting her. She gasped when he sucked on them gently.

"I thought I was calling the shots here." Her voice was unsteady. He released her hand and it fell against his lap, but not where he wanted it the most. He couldn't respond, only managed something that sounded like a grunt.

She leaned forward, her hair brushing against his thighs, sending unexpected shockwaves coursing through him. When her tongue licked off the moisture from the head of his cock, his hips jerked upwards, forcing his erection to push through her parted lips. She jumped slightly, as if startled. A low moan emitted from her throat, but she didn't pull back. If anything, her mouth seemed to clamp harder around him. A fast and steady burn started to build inside of him as her mouth and tongue worked magic on him. His balls drew up tight and just when he thought he was going to come, her mouth left him. She stared up at him, her breathing hard, his already mostly in pants.

"I changed my mind. I want to get you off." With that, she took him in her mouth again, as far as he could go until he felt himself touching the back of her throat.

"Jesus…Jesus…Lulu." His hands settled on her cheeks. He could feel each sucking motion, and he thought he was going to die from the pleasure of her. His cock slipped out of her mouth again but only because she abandoned it to draw her tongue down the sensitive skin on the underside, then lower until her teeth scraped against his tight sacs.

"Goddamn it…Fuck…I'm going to come," he warned her, the words more than strained. She closed her mouth back over him just as he erupted, his whole body jerking as his cock pulsed his release into her throat. Her fingernails dug into his upper thighs, that bite of pain along with the mouth and tongue that continued to work over the length of him drawing out his orgasm even longer. She didn't pull back until the last shudder left his body and he felt like he had literally poured his life into her. He could feel every pounding beat of his heart, feel the blood rushing in his ears. And the look of raw emotion, mixed with both satisfaction and uncertainty he saw on Lulu's face as she stared back up at him was nearly his undoing. He moved forward enough so his hands could grip her waist. He lifted her up and then forward until her knees were straddling his legs on the couch.

"So fucking beautiful." She made a move to try to sink down on him but he lifted her higher, then slid his hands around to cup her ass. The very center of her was mere inches from his mouth. "So fucking _mine_," he growled and then he pulled her down and his tongue stabbed deep into her hot, wet sex.

* * *

Lulu cried out at the unexpected yet welcome invasion of his tongue into her core. Her knees fell partly on his shoulders, partly against the couch cushions, the hands gripping her buttocks primarily the only thing keeping her remotely stable. Desire thrummed, need dug claws into every inch of her body. She burned. She ached. She throbbed. She still felt the taste of him in her mouth, remembered what he felt like between her lips. She whimpered when his tongue dragged up and down the entire length of her sex, teasing circles around her swollen clit. _So fucking mine_. The words he had spoken moments ago flashed through her scrambled thoughts. He had no idea. No idea just how true that was. His tongue continued to taste, to torment, to lick, to suck the sensitive walls and folds of her drenched sex. Her legs shook as she felt the signs of her impending orgasm, forcing herself down harder against his face. He groaned but didn't let up. When his tongue finally curled around her clit and then tapped against it repeatedly, teeth biting down and sucking it into his mouth, she absolutely shattered. Her thighs clenched around his face as she felt herself clamping down around his tongue, her hands pulling at his hair. She vaguely heard herself scream out his name while he lapped up every bit of her release. And yet, long moments later she still throbbed with a dull ache. How could she still need him?

She didn't even have a chance to recover before his hands were at her hips again. He lowered her the rest of the way down his body. She expected him to lower her onto his erection but he stood up instead, holding her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. She felt him shift her in his arms until his cock was nudging her opening and then suddenly he was pushing inside of her. She moaned, the sound caught by his lips as they settled over hers. Her hands moved up to run through his hair. She loved the way the soft strands felt between her fingers, loved the way their mouths and tongues tangled together, loved how completely full and taken she felt with him inside of her.

He lowered her onto the table, his mouth not breaking free from hers, his cock not slipping from the confines of her body. He pushed harder, deeper, until he couldn't go any farther. She felt almost unbearably full, her body a hot wire ready to go off. She was too far gone to care about the uncomfortable table underneath her back. Her legs locked around him as she rocked against his thrusts. His mouth left hers to press against her neck, his tongue teasing her skin. He rotated his hips against her in a way that had him pushing against a spot that immediately sent her into a mini-orgasm.

"Oh God...Dante..." she moaned. "Right there."

"Here?" he ground out against her neck, and he repeated the movement. Her hips bucked and she cried out when he did it again…and then again, catapulting her into a full-fledged, mind-blowing, full-body orgasm that went on and on.

"Lulu…" Her name from his lips was a whispered groan…and then a shout when she felt the hot liquid rush of his release inside of her as her walls clamped down on him, milking him of every drop. Her breath came in gasps, the sensations overwhelming and consuming. How was this possible? How was each and every time with him more and more intense? Even the times when he wasn't physically near, he was inside of her.

She had no idea how much time had passed. Just remembered closing her eyes and savoring the feel of his body against hers.

"My ears are ringing," she mumbled, her eyes fluttering open. He was staring down at her, a confused look on his face.

Then, "Shit. That's my phone."

She sighed when he pushed himself off her and stood up. He fell back down against the couch as he fumbled with his pants on the floor, searching the pockets. He came out with his cell phone and brought it to his ear.

"Falconeri."

She smiled at the roughness in his voice as she propped herself up on her elbows.

But then she was filled with a sense of trepidation when she saw Dante's whole demeanor change in an instant. His body tensed, his face hardened, and she knew she'd seen that look before. It was never followed by good news.

"I'm on my way," he said and the words sounded distant. She wrapped her arms around herself when he cursed and looked up at her. He seemed to struggle for what he wanted to say, but she just shook her head.

"It's him, isn't it?"

He nodded curtly, his eyes softening when he looked at her.

"What happened?" Though she suspected she knew.

"There's another victim."

She nodded slowly, felt a stab of pain. Her eyes closed. What a difference even just a minute could make, she thought dimly. Because now all she felt was cold.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

When Lulu looked back up, Dante had already thrown his clothes back on and was standing in front of her. He took her hands in his, gently, and pulled her up. He then reached behind him and grabbed a blanket that was folded over the arm of the couch, wrapped it around her.

"You're shaking."

She heard the concern in his words. She didn't voice that the blanket wouldn't help with the kind of cold she was feeling, but even as that thought skittered through her mind, he was enveloping her in his arms, his hands rubbing her back through the blanket, her head tucked under his chin, her body pressed firmly against his, and she felt…warmed. To the soul.

She felt his lips brush the top of her head. "I have to go."

"I know." But it was at least another minute before he stepped back, and when he did she felt the coldness creeping back.

He sighed, another look of regret on his face. "I'd do anything to take that look out of your eyes right now."

"I know," she said again. And she did. Just like she knew she had to tell him how she felt about him. Right now was proof how life could be ripped away in an instant. So why were the words lodged in her throat?

She watched as he walked over to the table and grabbed his gun and holster. "There's an off duty police officer watching the building in a car across the street. I can have him come up and stay with you."

Her eyes widened a little in surprise. "You didn't tell me that." Then she paused. "Off duty?"

"No budget. Four officers are going to rotate duty after their shifts end."

"Why would they do that?"

"A couple volunteered after I asked at the last meeting. The other two I promised to cover some of their shifts once this is over." He shrugged like it was no big deal. She almost choked on those lodged words.

She leaned forward and up slightly, placed her lips softly over his, a fleeting touch. She released a sigh against his lips and then pulled back. "I'll be fine. You don't need to send him up."

He studied her. "Are you sure?"

She just nodded.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He walked into the kitchen, pulled a piece of paper out of a drawer and wrote something down. He came back and handed it to her. "Officer Halstead's number outside. Call him if you need anything. Or call me. I'll answer if I can."

"Okay," she said quietly with another nod.

He looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead he turned around and walked out the door. She watched him go. Then on shaky legs, she sank down onto the couch as the grief, the guilt, the helplessness, buried her further.

* * *

Dante flashed his badge to the officer standing guard and stepped over the crime scene tape. He caught sight of Lucky talking to one of the FBI agents and approached them.

"How was it reported?" he asked.

Lucky turned to him. "Woman was walking her dog and he ran off. She followed the barks and found the vic. Dog may have disturbed the scene and the woman vomited but the ME is here and they're sealing it up." He visibly swallowed. "It's worse than the rest. I didn't think that was possible but there isn't one untouched inch on that girl's body."

Dante tried to mentally detach himself before he walked over to where the ME was looking at the body. But when he stared down at the unrecognizable young woman on the ground, for a brief moment that flashed through his mind, it was Lulu's face on that body and he had to force the bile down his throat, catch a stumble. _De-fucking-tach_.

"No ID?" His voice was tight with barely restrained rage. He spared a glance over at Lucky who had the same hard expression on his face.

Lucky shook his head. "No. But we may have a lead on the first victim." Dante knew that the police sketch artist along with FBI assistance had come up with computer-generated drawings of all the victims' faces without the massive cuts and sent them out to all police precincts within a 100 mile radius. "Got a call back from Buffalo. Missing persons report filed for 22 year old Lindsay Parker. Senior at UB."

To say the University at Buffalo was a large school would be an understatement. The student body topped 20,000, easily. "She's from Nebraska but estranged from her family," Lucky continued. "Her professor contacted authorities when she failed to show up for her portfolio review. Her apartment on campus was empty but belongings were still there. We're trying to contact her parents, see if they can make an ID."

Estranged or not, it would be a nightmare for them, Dante thought to himself. Probably even more so if they weren't on good terms. If their victim was indeed Lindsay Parker, Dante suspected closure would be a long time coming and shadowed with regrets for her family. If there was one part he hated most about his job it was telling a victim's loved ones that they'd never see that person alive again. _I'm sorry for your loss_ were hollow words to someone whose life was just ripped apart.

"Bennett lives in Buffalo," Dante commented.

"Yes. Williams lives not too far from Rochester, but he works at the branch office for the publishing company in Buffalo," Lucky added.

Neither Rochester or Buffalo were far from Port Charles. The headquarters of Lulu's publisher was based in Manhattan but she primarily dealt with the Buffalo branch out of convenience according to Lucky.

Dante looked off to the right of the body and froze. The number two had been written in what he assumed was the victim's blood. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Can't be sure. Best guess at this point is how many more victims he intends to have," FBI Agent Turner spoke up.

Some cross between panic and fury squeezed his heart painfully. This would _not_ happen to Lulu. He would die first.

"Is Lulu okay?" Lucky asked, turning towards him.

_No_. "As good as you can expect."

"It's Halstead's shift now, right? You checked in with him before you left?"

"Of course I did," Dante replied, barely keeping the irritation out of his voice. He was hardly incompetent, but he also knew Lucky was just worried about his sister. It almost killed Dante to have to walk out on Lulu after delivering the news that he did. He had forced his feet to carry him out of that door when he wanted nothing more than to hold her and permanently extinguish the shock and anguish he saw clearly on her face.

Dante rounded back on Agent Turner. "How's that surveillance on Williams and Bennett? Oh, right," he continued without waiting for Turner to respond. "There is none."

Dante saw a muscle tic in the agent's jaw. "You might want to remember that we're here out of courtesy to provide forensic and profiling resources. We're also investigating the stalking incidents since those have crossed state lines. But our resources are limited just like yours. And we're dealing with a lot more cases."

Rationally, Dante knew he was right. But this was personal. As personal as it got. So fuck rational. Turner went on before Dante could open his mouth again. "For the record, I did try to arrange for surveillance, but it wasn't possible. I informed Commissioner Scorpio of this yesterday."

"That's true." Dante turned around to see Mac walking over to them. "I have contacts in Buffalo and Rochester, one of them owes me a favor. Hopefully within the next 24 hours we'll have surveillance in place. If I have to pull a couple of our guys to head out there to do it, I will. I'll worry about the budget later."

"Thanks Mac," Lucky said while Dante just nodded, the tension still stringing him tightly.

"Excuse me," Turner said when his cell phone started ringing and he walked away to take the call.

Dante rubbed a frustrated hand over his face as his gaze wandered back over to the now covered up body. He'd seen people kill for many "reasons" – revenge, anger, money, drugs, just to name a few. But he'd never understand it because they weren't reasons at all. Not everyone who was angry would pick up a gun and shoot someone. Not everyone who needed money would steal to get it. You had to be a special kind of soulless piece of crap to do what had been done to those four women. You couldn't rehabilitate psychotic. There was rage in every slash on those bodies. Rage that had an end target of Lulu. He didn't want to analyze the rage he too was feeling. Didn't want to think about what he'd do if he found himself alone with this bastard. He already acknowledged to himself he'd lost his objectivity a long time ago. And he'd do whatever it took to make sure Lulu was okay. God, he needed to see her.

"Good news." Turner had approached them again, interrupting him from his thoughts. "That was a conference call with my boss and your DA. You'll have your warrants for DNA samples by late tomorrow morning."

"That's great news," Lucky commented, his face relieved. And it _was_ great news, Dante thought to himself. What they had been pushing for since Lulu was attacked. They had more leads and made more progress than they had since they found the first body. So why did it feel like it wasn't enough?

* * *

She was sitting up in bed when he walked into the apartment over two hours later. His eyes settled on hers and almost instantly that dark cloud of apprehension weighing him down began to ease.

"Hi," he said on a sigh.

"Hi."

Wordlessly, he placed his holster on the table, kicked his shoes off, and sat down next to her on the bed. Her expression was guarded, but when he reached out to take her hand in his, he felt the tightness in her muscles. His thumb brushed over her wrist once, twice. He heard her shaky breath and then her hand squeezed his almost painfully.

"Lucky called me."

"What did he say?" he asked carefully.

"That you might know who the first victim is. That you'll be getting DNA samples from Michael and that other guy tomorrow."

Dante nodded.

"That they think this guy is maybe planning on two more victims." Her voice shook. It was barely noticeable but he found he was getting to be so in tune to every nuance of her voice, he picked it up. "I wonder if that's before me or including me."

Now it was he who was gripping her hand with increased pressure. "Don't even think that, Lulu." His tone held a thread of warning.

"It's a little hard not to." She shook her head. "You know, a few months ago my biggest worry was word counts and deadlines. Now it's wondering if today's going to be the day he'll make his next move."

Panic started to well up again. "Hey." He touched her face with his other hand, felt a tear drop onto it…felt something inside him shatter. "Come here, sweetheart." He pulled her closer until she was in his arms, his hands circling her waist as they rubbed the small of her back, one of her bent knees lying on top of his leg, her head resting gently against his chest. "I'm not going to lose you. And I'm not going to let anything happen to you. He won't touch you again."

* * *

She didn't want him to let her go. As her hand lay against his stomach, she heard the reassuring beat of his heart drumming in her ear.

"I can't stop thinking about those women…what they went through. How scared they must have been." She fought back more tears.

He scooted further down the bed until he was lying down and turned on his side facing her, sending one of her legs slipping in between both of his. One hand tilted her chin up until her eyes met his. "This is _not_ your fault."

Of course he would know she was still struggling with the guilt. "I'm so tired of this. I just need it to be over."

"I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that happens."

She sighed when his hand started slowly rubbing up and down one of her arms and then moving up to circle around the pressure point in her neck, each motion ebbing the tension more and more out of her body. She was discovering very well how those hands could devastate with both searing, passionate touches like earlier this evening and soothing, understanding caresses like now.

She made up the distance in between their faces until her lips pressed against his. Her mouth moved gently and slowly over his as his palm stretched above her neck to rub her scalp. He didn't try to deepen the kiss and instead let her lead him into it. She sighed again, this time into his mouth. She felt his warm breath against her face as he did the same.

_I'm not going to lose you._

His words wrapped around her as surely as his arms were just moments ago. He wouldn't have said that if he wasn't emotionally invested. She already knew she couldn't lose him. He was too much inside of her, a part of who she now was.

She pulled back. "Are you okay?"

A confused expression passed over his face.

"Dante," she said softly. "I know tonight couldn't have been easy for you. Seeing…death." She knew him well enough now to know that each victim that he dealt with, whether alive or dead, affected him.

"It's my job."

She studied him. "I think if it really was just your job, you would have quit by now. You fight for all of them." She didn't need to specify who _them_ was.

"And sometimes it's for nothing," he muttered.

"It's never for nothing." She spoke the words quietly. "You're a good cop. A good man." And he was hers. For however long this lasted, he was hers. _If only he would realize that_.

He was silent for a long time. Then he touched his lips against her forehead. "You are an amazing woman, Lulu Spencer."

She smiled as her eyelids started to feel heavy. "I want to stay like this all night."

"That's good. I don't feel much like moving."

A few moments passed before she spoke again. "Dante?"

"Hmm?"

She peered up at him. "Do you remember what we were talking about the other day in your car? At the range?" she prompted at his blank look. "I'm ready."

She saw when realization hit him. A small frown appeared on his lips. "Are you sure?"

She nodded.

He let out a deep, slow breath as he looked down into her eyes. "Okay," he said finally. "I'll see if we can get something set up for tomorrow."

Her head settled back down against him and his hands slipped underneath her t-shirt to splay across her back, the tips of his fingers massaging her skin and spreading warmth through the rest of her body.

"Sleep."

The word was a whisper against her ear, and with his arms around her, she did exactly that.


	23. Chapter 23

Note:

Sorry guys, wanted to update sooner but it has been a ridiculously busy week. Much of this chapter was written with a splitting headache so please forgive me if it sucks. Hope everyone is still enjoying it…thanks for the comments :)

* * *

**Chapter 23**

The smell of food woke her first. When her eyes slowly opened moments later, their first sight was Dante sitting up in bed staring down at her. Her mind was still too muddled with sleep to make out the expression that seemed to pass over his face. Nor could she understand why she was suddenly feeling self-conscious.

Pulling herself up, she glanced at the clock above the bed and saw it was almost 9:00. She couldn't even remember what time she had fallen asleep last night. She rubbed at her eyes and tucked a few stray strands of hair that had fallen over her face behind her ears.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Better," she responded automatically though she knew it wasn't entirely the truth. He looked at her doubtfully but let it pass without comment. Being with him made her feel better, that part was true, especially after the way he treated her so…perfectly last night. But it didn't erase the sadness of four innocent lives lost and the fear that she would be next. She glanced down at the two plates he held near his lap. "You made breakfast?"

He shrugged. "Nothing fancy."

She took the plate of bacon, eggs, and toast that he handed her, trying to push the thoughts of dread that seemed to be driving away her appetite out of her mind. She was only partly successful and ended up poking the eggs around on her plate with her fork. She didn't miss his frown from the corner of her eyes so she forced the food up to her mouth, swallowed it down her dry throat. And almost instantly Dante was holding up a glass of orange juice for her that he must have set down on the shelf above the bed. Longing tugged at her heart. For someone who seemed so commitment/relationship phobic, he always made an effort to take care of her. Every single one of those efforts marking the claim he had on her even more.

After some hunger actually started creeping in, they finished breakfast in relative silence. Every time she stole a glance at him, he seemed deep in thought. What she'd give to know what was going on in that head of his.

He rose from the bed and took both plates over to the kitchen. "After you get ready, I'll have you come down to the station with me."

"Why?"

"Lucky's going to spend the day with you and take you to your self-defense class this afternoon."

"What are you going to do?" she asked, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice. Out of anyone, she had spent more time with Dante lately. So why should it bother her if they spent most of the day apart? It shouldn't. But it did.

He walked back over to the bed and sat down, stared at her a few moments before speaking. "Ronnie and I are going to deliver the warrants today. The FBI is sending someone from their forensics lab to come with us."

She nodded but didn't say anything. If one of the two were a match, this whole thing could be over. It's what she wanted. It would also mean having to potentially deal with someone close to her wanting her dead. If neither were a match though, it was back to where they started, which seemed almost as bad.

"I also reserved an hour for us at the shooting range at 5 so we'll head out from the station and then come back here when we're done." He paused. "Are you sure that's still what you want to do?"

She'd find out. "Yes."

He leaned over, touched his lips to hers briefly and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "We'll leave in a half hour."

* * *

Irritated. Insulted. Nervous. Dante saw all of those things on both Williams's and Bennett's faces when they presented the orders for DNA. As he and Ronnie headed back to Port Charles, he couldn't help but wish they had fought him, given him some reason to take them in. If one of them was guilty, this could trigger them to do something stupid or out of desperation. Mac had come through and surveillance was in place for both of them. Except Bennett had already made out his tail and threatened harassment charges. Dante had wished him luck with that, told him to have a nice day, and walked out of the house as his family looked on.

DNA testing could easily take days if not weeks to come back. For their purposes, the more immediate concern was if either sample was a match to the one taken from Lucky's driveway. So Agent Turner had promised that their lab would have preliminary results back by tomorrow.

Dante didn't want to think about the scenario of neither coming back as a match. That would mean starting over, and that wasn't an option. This needed to end. Lulu needed to get her life back, not spend every minute fearing for it.

And when it was over, then what? That question weighed heavily on his mind. Lulu would have no reason to stay with him, he would have no reason to spend so much time with her. Except that wasn't true. He _wanted_ to spend more time with her. He didn't want her to leave. And wasn't that just crazy?

He had held her and watched her sleep for the longest time last night before he let himself do the same. He wanted more nights like that. He wanted more nights with his body pressing down against hers, with his lips over hers, with him inside of her. He wanted more nights of hearing those sounds she made when she came. More nights and days of hearing her voice, of seeing her face light up when she smiled. Especially when it was at him. He just wanted her. Period. More than anything he ever had before in his life. Would she want the same? When this threat over her life was lifted, would she want to be in his? Would this consuming need he seemed to have for her fade? Would he find some way to screw everything up? He didn't know where this thing between them would go, how long it would last. But so help him God he wanted to find out. Yet all of those endless questions in his head seemed to be pushing him towards some invisible ledge. Someone had to make a move. The only question left would be if that move would save him…or destroy everything.

* * *

He was quiet. And had a full unmistakable brood going on. As they headed towards the shooting range, Lulu stared out the window at the dark clouds swirling in the sky. When she looked over at Dante behind the wheel, she couldn't help but compare the two. He had the same kind of unsettled air permeating around him, the same hints of an impending storm in his eyes. All she had gotten out of him after asking how today went was a mumbled "fine." Not for the first time since she'd known him, not even for the first time today, she wished she could read him. Things would be a lot less complicated.

She felt the first drops of light rain after getting out of the car, but not enough to bother with trying to find an umbrella. She started to head inside but then froze when she felt his hand close around hers. It was so natural, so…_couple-like_. She felt a tug on her arm when he had continued walking. He frowned after looking back at her to see her standing in place. All she could do was stare at him.

"What?" The word sounded defensive.

She shook her head. "I don't understand you at all sometimes." Or most of the time. But she bit back a smile and continued walking.

And what was wrong with her that she'd be taken more off guard by him holding her hand as they walked than she was when he handcuffed her…or when he lapped her up like an ice cream sundae – literally?

Once inside, they stopped at the counter and Dante checked them in, purchasing some extra ammunition for her gun. He had chosen one of the indoor stalls and Lulu followed him as they made their way down a narrow corridor to the main shooting areas. She could already feel the nerves start to build up but she tried desperately to push them back. She could do this.

They had stopped in front of stall eight and Lulu stared at the opposite end where the paper outline of a man hung. Dante had taken her gun and unloaded all the bullets before he handed it back to her.

"Let me see you load it."

She swallowed hard and tried to ignore the butterflies floating around in her stomach as she carefully loaded each bullet back into the cylinder. Her hand shook very subtly and she hoped he hadn't noticed. But from the hard line of his mouth when she glanced over at him, she knew he saw. Setting her shoulders, she turned away from him and towards the target.

"Whoa. Hold on." He stepped in front of her and slipped the gun out of her hand. Before she could even be irritated, he was holding up a pair of safety goggles and putting them into her hand. "You need to put these on." He reached behind him and grabbed what looked like some kind of earphones from a nearby counter. "And these."

"Oh." Her annoyance deflating, she put on the goggles and then the earphones. He hesitated before giving the gun back to her and then donning the same equipment himself.

"I know you went over all of this in class, but it's important. If you're not willing to shoot something or someone, never point your gun at it. And unless you're ready to fire, keep your finger off the trigger and the safety on. Never aim for the head unless you're a damn good shooter. You're always going to want to aim for whatever the largest part of the body is. Usually it's going to be the chest."

She nodded, his voice sounding a little more distant with the earphones on. "Okay."

Seemingly satisfied, he handed the gun back to her and she instantly felt her throat go dry when her hand slid around it. She would have to fire it now. She ordered herself to stay calm.

"Let me see your stance."

She took a breath and then got into position, her hands lifting.

_Bam. Bam. Bam._

The sudden sound of gunfire a few stalls down had a small cry escaping from her throat, her heart jumping and her body following suit. In an instant, one of his arms was sliding around her waist, holding her back tightly against him. The other grabbing the gun that she almost dropped to the floor. She could feel the blood draining from her face.

"Easy…Shh, baby…It's okay." He had slipped off her earphones and had whispered the words into her ear. She tried to fight off the sudden shudders that assaulted her. God, she was an idiot. A coward. Steeling herself, she pulled away from the comfort of his arms, taking the gun back from him.

"Lulu." His voice held a note of both concern and warning, but she shook it off.

"I was just caught off guard, that's all. I'm fine." Or she would be anyway. When she heard more rounds being fired, she flinched but forced herself to remain in control.

"You don't have to do this," he said gently.

"Yes, I do," she responded with determination. "I need to."

He sighed, but didn't argue. Instead, he watched as she got into position again and put the earphones back in place. She blocked out everything except the deep, even, and reassuring tone of his voice as it washed over her, giving her courage she didn't altogether feel. All she knew was that the warmth in his voice seemed to quell the rapid beating of her heart. He gave her instructions on how to adjust her stance and she followed all of them.

"You're going to feel the gun jump in your hands when you fire. Don't let it alarm you or intimidate you. Just keep your focus on the target. I'm right here behind you. Whenever you're ready."

She nodded, focused in on the paper target. Squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked and she held back a gasp of surprise. She knew she was gripping it too tightly by the white she saw in her knuckles. She blinked a couple of times and then looked at the target, squinting her eyes and then frowning.

"I didn't even hit it." Disappointment slid through her.

"You're too tense, sweetheart." He stepped forward again and put his hands on her waist. "Loosen a little, spread your feet about another inch apart." She did so. His hands then went up to her arms as he helped to position them and then slid down to her hands. "You want to hold it firmly, but not so tight you cut off your circulation. It makes your whole body rigid. You won't hit anything like that."

His hands left her body but she still felt him right behind her. "Again," he said.

She made herself remember that moment of fear and pain when she was pressed up against the car, the feel of the blade cutting into her skin, his angry, harsh words and breath. And then she pictured him in front of her. She heard a pop when she pulled the trigger again. This time she fell back against the hard wall of his chest. She stared at the target and felt a burst of triumph when she saw the hole in the chest of the paper target.

"I did it."

"You did it." She felt his arms slide around her again and felt his lips press against her neck. "Good job."

Pleasure spread through her and she took a moment to engage the safety on the gun and turn around to lay a quick kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

He nodded and smoothed a hand over her hair, then pressed it against the back of her head and pulled her closer again so he could kiss her more deeply. She leaned into him with a sigh, but the kiss ended almost as quickly as it had begun.

"We'll do a few more rounds and then head home."

_Home_. She liked the sound of that way more than she probably should have.

* * *

She hadn't had quite as much luck with the rest of the rounds she fired from varying distances. Some hit their mark, but just as many, if not more, didn't. But she wasn't too disappointed in herself. She faced a fear and came out with more confidence than she had going in. She knew without a doubt she couldn't have done it without Dante.

The rain had picked up and they both ended up soaked on the way to the car. Her hair was plastered to her head and her clothes clung to her body. She was pretty sure she looked like a drowned rat yet Dante looked sexy as hell sporting the same look. Yearning pooled deep in her belly, spread outwards.

Her mind replayed the conversation she and Olivia had had about Dante keeping his heart guarded until she broke through. She looked over at Dante as he pulled out of their parking space. Looked at the man who had seemed to burn his name on her heart. And she knew she had every intention of breaking through his. Tonight.


	24. Chapter 24

Note:

This chapter is ridiculously long, I know. I could have split it into two but it seemed to flow better as one. Tried to run the gamut of emotions in this one. I may have failed miserably but I made an effort ;) I also feel I must give an excessive kink warning for at least part of this chapter so adult eyes only and skip over any parts that may offend. Hopefully this one is not a let down…thanks as always for the comments, you guys rock =)

* * *

**Chapter 24**

"I can order us some pizza," Dante said after they walked into his apartment.

Lulu shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"We can watch a movie."

She shook her head again. "No."

He was silent for a few seconds. "Are you tired?"

"Nope."

She was well aware his current gaze wasn't exactly on her eyes. Even now she could feel her nipples hardening underneath her wet bra and t-shirt.

"What do you want to do?" he asked, the words sounding hopeful and she had to bite down on her lip to keep from smiling.

She moved past him towards the couch, deliberately letting the side of her breast brush against his arm, taking personal delight from his intake of breath. He had turned to watch her and she sat down on the arm of the couch facing him. Some wet strands of hair had fallen in front of her face and she tucked them behind her ear. His black t-shirt was plastered against his chest, his jeans clung to a growing bulge below his waist. Wanting him was so natural, so instantaneous. "I want to play a game," she finally said.

His eyebrows lifted, creased. "You want to play a game?" he repeated as if the words were foreign to him.

She nodded her head.

"I don't have video games."

"Not video games."

He was quiet for a moment. "I'm fresh out of Monopoly."

She smiled. "Not board games."

"Okay," he said slowly. "I give up."

"Truth." She took a deliberate pause. "Or Dare."

He laughed. Then the sound cut off abruptly. "You're serious."

Now would be a great time for that newly found confidence to make an appearance, Lulu thought to herself, when she felt some nerves settling in her belly. But then she saw the heat in his eyes, the interest, as he shot her a look that had fire and arousal burning those nerves away. "Yes," she managed.

The smile he sent her was slow, knowing, and downright sexy. "That sounds kinky." He flashed his teeth. "I like it."

"Of course you would." And she wasn't upset about that at all.

He walked over to her and then stepped in between her partly spread legs, forcing her to tilt her head up to look at him. She could have sworn his eyes dilated. "Are there rules to this game?"

She became momentarily distracted when he placed his hands above her knees and then slid them higher until his thumbs were at the juncture of her thighs. She held in a breath and then cursed the warm-up pants covering her legs. She wanted his hands on her bare skin. Then she remembered he had asked her a question. But…what did he ask again?

"The rules…what are they?" He lowered his head and pressed his warm lips against her neck. Had she asked that out loud? She could feel the tip of his tongue slide out to taste and she responded with a shudder. Figures he would try to turn the tables on her.

"Ah…" She moaned when he kissed up her neck and his tongue darted out to trace along her lower earlobe. She felt a small contraction in her womb and not for the first time since being Dante she realized the man could probably make her come without any stimulation _there_ at all. But enough was enough, and she had an agenda. She moved the palm of her hand to his chest and pushed. An expression that looked suspiciously like a satisfied smirk crossed his face when he stepped back.

"Proud of yourself, huh?"

"Little bit," he smiled.

She took a moment to compose herself. "The rules," she started. "No lying. Or dodging the question."

He appeared to contemplate that. "What about passing?"

She frowned. Passing was not part of her plan. "If one of us is really that uncomfortable with a question, be honest, and we'll go from there."

"Alright. I think the same goes for the dares. If it's not something we'll enjoy, we're entitled to pass."

She nodded in agreement. Though Lord only knew what he'd come up with. "That's fair."

The smile reappeared on his face. "Okay, sweetheart, your game. You pick first."

"Truth," she decided almost immediately.

His eyes roamed her body, seemed to settle below her hips. "Are you wet for me right now?" His gaze landed back up at her eyes. "And I don't mean your clothes."

Of course he didn't, she thought, as excitement swam through her blood. "I dare you to find out."

His eyes darkened. "I haven't chosen yet."

She lifted her eyebrows. "So what?" she shot back at him.

He took the few small steps that narrowed the distance between them and then pulled her up off the arm of the couch by the waistband of her pants and yanked her up against him. One hand slid underneath her pants, underneath her panties, palmed the heat of her mound. One finger slid deep inside her sex. Her breath released on a strangled gasp as he stroked back and forth.

"Fuck," he muttered and then withdrew his hand and she felt the loss like a kick to the stomach. She saw his finger glistening with her arousal. "I think that's a yes." He brought the finger to his lips and licked it, that single action causing her sex to throb in increasing need. "So whose turn is it now? I'm pretty sure it's yours again."

She narrowed her eyes. Damn him, he was probably right. And this wasn't starting off how she had planned. "Truth." She knew she sounded irritated while he acted completely unphased.

"How many guys have you been with?"

Taken aback, she stared at him for a long moment. If she wasn't mistaken, there was a note of what sounded like jealousy in his voice. That was promising. "Including you or not including you?" she asked casually.

"Including." The word sounded forced, and though she knew it was bordering on cruel, she appeared to have to think about it for a minute and took secret satisfaction in seeing his jaw work, his arms cross over his chest.

"Three," she said finally, and she couldn't make out the expression on his face anymore. Couldn't tell if he was upset or relieved. What he expected her to say. What he wanted her to say. "Your turn," she said when she got no further response.

"Dare."

"I dare you to take off your shirt." She knew it was relatively tame, but she wanted to see his bare chest, each hard line, each inch of smooth skin. She wanted to see the chains, the tattoos that were like another breathing part of him.

In a matter of seconds, the t-shirt was lifted over his head and Lulu wasn't disappointed. It took every bit of willpower not to reach out and run her hands over every inch of revealed skin. "Dare," she said without waiting for him to ask, causing a smile to erase the glower on his face moments ago.

"I dare you to take off your shirt." He threw her words back at her.

She lifted the hem of her shirt up slowly, to just below her breasts, baring her stomach, and then she paused. He looked at her expectantly but still she waited, letting one of her hands move ever so softly around her belly.

"Lulu."

"What?"

"Take. It. Off." Each word was spoken with a distinct edge, and she was finding she so loved to push him. Planned to push him even more before the night was over.

She finally lifted the shirt the rest of the way from her body and carelessly tossed it aside. Her bra was a completely no-frills black cotton but still he looked at her like she was the most desirable thing he'd ever seen.

His breathing was deep, controlled. "Truth."

Okay. She had been expecting him to say "dare" again. She had way too many things she wanted to ask him, and no idea what to ask first. So many questions she wanted to know the answers to, and so many she didn't. "What's the longest you've been with a woman?"

His breathing seemed to halt altogether for a few seconds. She was convinced he wasn't going to answer, but then he spoke. "Six months. Give or take. Senior year of high school."

She knew she was frowning. Part of her was happy that he obviously hadn't had any kind of meaningful long-term relationship. The other part was…resigned. "Well," she said, trying to sound lighthearted, "I guess it's safe to say this isn't destined for a long lifespan."

He looked uncomfortable…and angry. He stepped so close to her his face almost bumped against hers. She struggled not to back away from the intensity of his eyes. "Don't you dare compare this to anyone else I've been with. It's not anywhere near the same level."

Tension thickened the air. "But what does that _mean_?"

That mask of control seemed to be back in place on his face as he put some distance between them. "That's another question."

She wanted to curse. Stubborn, frustrating man. She knew he was waiting for her to choose, but she took some more time to reflect in sullen silence on how this very well could end up being one of her stupidest ideas in a very long time. "Dare," she decided on a sigh.

He reached down and undid the button on his jeans. She found herself holding her breath. "I dare you to unzip my pants." No matter how discouraged she may have felt in getting him to open up, the wanting of him never seemed to go away. The ache she felt to have him inside her in every possible way never went away. But when she stepped forward to do what he asked, he stopped her. "With your teeth."

She froze. Not in shock of the request. But in surprise of how badly she wanted to do it. Of knowing there probably wasn't much she wouldn't do that he asked of her. She dropped to her knees, feeling her panties grow wetter. She crawled the short distance over to him until her face was level with his groin. She saw his hands bunch into fists before she stole a glance up into his hooded eyes. She leaned forward and tried to grasp the zipper in her mouth, but failed. Her mouth pressed against the growing erection straining against the jeans. She turned her face a little and rubbed her cheek against it, smiling at the sound of him sucking in a deep breath. One of his hands cupped the back of her head while his other moved to his jeans and pushed aside the strip of fabric preventing her access to the zipper. Her teeth immediately caught the small piece of metal. She clamped down hard on it to prevent herself from losing her grip. She tugged with her mouth but the zipper gave way only a small amount. She heard Dante's harsh breathing above her, felt the hand tightening in her hair. She didn't know how it was possible but the bulge got bigger. Bracing her hands on his thighs, she pulled her head back as much as possible while keeping the zipper precariously in her mouth, trying to make it easier to maneuver it down over his swelling cock. She took her time, focused on the movements instead of the temptation of what was waiting for her underneath the barrier of clothing. Finally. Finally, she worked the zipper all the way down and she pulled back with a smile, letting her weight fall back against her heels.

His hand fell from her hair as he stared down at her. "God, do you know how fucking hot you are?"

She didn't respond. Couldn't think of a response. Except she knew that _he_ made her hot. In every possible way.

"Dare me to do something you want me to do to you." His voice was low with a note of huskiness. And once more her body reacted to just the sound of it.

"Put your mouth on my breasts." The words came out in a rush.

He shed his jeans and boxers so fast she could barely process it. He then sank down to his knees on the floor in front of her. "What else?"

She fought back embarrassment.

"Tell me," he demanded.

"Suck my nipples." She bit down on her lip.

He smiled and then his hands slid around her waist and pulled her closer to him, his cock pressing against her belly. His mouth lowered to one breast above the cup of her bra. His lips brushed against her skin, trailed kisses over to the other one. Her eyes wanted to close but she desperately wanted to keep them on him, to take in everything. His fingertips trailed up her arms, leaving goose bumps in their wake. He slid the straps off her shoulders and pressed more kisses against the bare flesh. He reached behind her, expertly undid the clasp and had the bra discarded in what seemed like a fraction of a second. His teeth and tongue moved back over the swells of her breasts while his hands cupped the weight of each one in his palms. She could see her nipples tighten into hard points. Her flesh seemed to tingle, burn. The throbbing in her core intensified to an almost maddening level.

"Oh," she said on a moan when his thumbs finally flicked over each nipple. He lifted her breasts, pushed them together. An odd look passed over his face momentarily but her vision was starting to cloud and it was hard to make out. She moaned when his tongue traced circles around each areola, coming so close to where she wanted his mouth but denying her. Her hands reached up to thread in his hair, push his head harder against her. She felt his lips move into a smile against her skin, his upper lip touching one of her nipples. She wanted more. So much more. Finally his mouth closed around one nipple and sent a racking jolt of arousal to her womb. He suckled the bud and part of her breast into his mouth, his tongue teasing and tormenting, his teeth gently scraping before moving over to the other one and repeating each motion.

She suddenly felt him bite down harder on her nipple at the same time his hand snaked its way inside her pants, bypassing her panties, and thrusting two fingers deep inside of her. She cried out and her hands pulled hard at Dante's hair.

"Jesus Christ, you're soaked."

She was too far gone to be shy. Her breath came out in pants. She needed to come. Needed that release. She tried to thrust her hips against his hand, but he withdrew it from her wet heat, right after barely brushing against her clit. She groaned in frustration and then gasped, cried out again when his teeth tugged tortuously at her other nipple.

"You know what I want to do to these?" he murmured as his thumb soothed over the aching points. Without waiting for a response, he continued. "You ever had them clamped?" She whimpered, gave a small shake to her head. He smiled. "I want to do that. With chains in the middle." His lips captured hers in a kiss that caught her off guard. Dimly, she realized that was the first time he had kissed her since they walked into the apartment. She eagerly met each insistent thrust of his tongue inside her mouth, then thrust hers into his, taking pleasure in his moan. Pulling back, his dark eyes bore into hers. "And then I want to pull them when I fuck you."

_God_. All she could do was shudder.

"Does that turn you off?"

"No," she breathed. Though God knew it probably should have. "Have…Have you done that? With anyone else?"

"No," he responded against her mouth without hesitation before he kissed her again and she actually felt like a small weight over her heart had been lifted. She wanted things with Dante that were hers and his alone. "I think it's your turn again."

Was it? She didn't know. Didn't even care right at that moment. "Dare." The word was shaky, her focus on trying to control the raging need threatening to overtake her body.

The look he gave her was piercing. "Let me fuck your breasts."

_He wanted to_….The thought trailed off in her head, replaced by the knowledge that the vanquishing of any shyness completely failed because she felt the blood rush to her cheeks in a fast burn. Yet it didn't match the fire stoking inside her. "I think you're obsessed with my breasts." Her voice was uneven.

His eyes sparked. "I'm obsessed with more than just your breasts."

This man would completely destroy her for any other man. There was no doubt in her mind. Her tongue ran over her dry lips. She wasn't naïve, nor was she clueless. But doing _that _was not something that had ever held any bit of appeal or fantasy. But she'd also never dreamed she'd meet anyone who would push her limits, make her want things that a part of her mind was telling her she shouldn't want. But she did. She wanted anything and everything with him.

"Ah…Don't I need to be a little…bigger…for that?" She hated how he could make her blush so easily. Okay, she thought, maybe she didn't hate it so much when he looked at her the way that he was looking at her now.

"You're perfect. So fucking perfect." He paused. "And no, I've never even wanted to do anything like that with anyone else. There's nothing I don't want with you, Lulu."

Her heart kicked, then seemed to stop. Was he talking about just sexually? Or more? It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him. But then his mouth was on hers again and his hands were massaging her breasts and her thoughts were momentarily swept away.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked after they had finally pulled apart. Anticipation flooded her just as much arousal did. She needed him inside of her, needed to come apart in his arms, rid her body of the tension tightening around her like a noose.

He rose to his feet, his cock stiff and upright, her mouth watering at the sight. He held his hands down to her to help her up. She shifted, could feel her drenched panties clinging to her, knew that if she got any wetter, he'd have to wipe her up off the floor.

"Lay down on the couch," he told her and she moved to do as he said, grabbing one of the pillows on the couch to prop her head on. He approached, leaned over her and then lowered himself down so one knee was straddling her side and his other leg was braced on the floor holding up most of his weight. She inhaled sharply when he took his cock in his hand and rubbed it along the valley in between her breasts and then over against one of her nipples. Oh, damn, that felt good.

His breathing was labored as he positioned his cock until it was laying flat in the center of her chest. "Push them together." He had to have felt the rapid thumping of her heart as she did what he asked, squeezing them together until they formed a wall around the sides of his hard length.

He thrust his hips forward, sending his cock sensuously close to her face. He lowered his head to run his tongue along each of her nipples while he continued to move back and forth. It was an odd sensation, she thought, but not unpleasant. And she had to admit the sight was erotic, especially his face as he looked caught between a state of intense concentration and uninhibited passion. For her. She felt a couple drops of moisture on her chest, and the next time he thrust forward, her tongue darted out to run along the head of his cock, teasing the slit. She moaned at the slightly salty taste of him, reveled in his harsh grunt. Yeah, she liked this much better.

Apparently, so did he. "Finish me," he commanded gruffly and at that moment she wanted nothing more. She scooted down a little further to get in better position, her hand sliding around the base of his shaft as she sucked him into her mouth. She lowered her hand to cup his balls as her tongue, mouth, and teeth worked him. He pushed deeper into her throat and she forced herself to relax, to take all of him as he started to thrust in and out. She squirmed uncomfortably as her sex ached to the point of pain. Her teeth unconsciously bit down on him and her nails, deliberately, scraped against his sensitive sac and she heard him groan, release a string of curses as his whole body jerked. He lost some of his balance, sending more of his weight down against her. She felt burst after burst of his hot release slide down her waiting throat and she practically hummed around him and then gasped when she felt a couple of small spasms at her very center. But not enough. Not nearly enough.

"Dante," she moaned after he pulled out of her mouth and then kissed her once more, a kiss that seemed to dig right inside of her and keep the flames licking at her body going even stronger. "I need to come. Need to feel you inside me."

He smiled as one of his hands stroked through her hair. "Soon."

She stiffened. How was it that every time she meant to take charge, he always tried, and mostly succeeded, in coming out on top, making her the desperate one? Pushing away from him, she stood on shaky feet and put a little space between them. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why haven't you had any relationships that have lasted over six months?" She sensed his protest, knew what he was going to say, before he even opened his mouth. "Screw the game," she said angrily. "Game's over. And screw you if you can't…or won't…be honest with me."

With a heavy sigh, he sat back fully on the couch, looked at her with unmasked vulnerability. She'd seen brief flashes of that look before, but never to the extent she was seeing it now and some of her bitterness melted away. "Why can't you just let me in?"

"Lulu…" He started and then ran a hand through his hair. His foot tapped at the floor, once, twice. "If you're expecting some big story, there isn't one." He acted like he was waiting for her to say something, but she remained silent. "Sex is easier than commitment. Easier than being exposed emotionally to someone." He appeared to be struggling for the words he wanted to say. "I saw what my mother had to deal with because of some bastard who abandoned his responsibilities. I swore I wouldn't be that kind of person. That girl in high school saw forever. I saw for now. Every woman after was for now. I wasn't going to commit to a _for now_ kind of woman."

Okay, that hurt. "I see." What else could she say?

He laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "You don't see." He shook his head. "I had two major rules I lived by for years – always use protection and no strings attached. I broke both of those with you."

Her heart grew hopeful. Yearned to hear the words she so desperately wanted to hear. But he didn't say anything else. She was strung so tight, on edge both physically and emotionally. Why couldn't anything just be _easy_? And it looked like that guard of his was sliding back into place. That just wasn't going to work for her. She uncrossed her arms, trying not to feel self-conscious about her half-naked state and then walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle of water. She took a long drink and then set it on the counter and turned back to look at him. "I've made a decision. If the DNA tests don't come back for a match, I'm going to Mac. No more hiding. I want to make myself bait to draw him out."

She saw the change immediately. His eyes narrowed as something dangerous flashed in them. His jaw set and he stood up from the sofa. He walked over to her slowly, but purposefully. She could actually see the tautness in his muscles. "Like. Hell." There was no mistaking the warning in each word as he practically growled them in her face.

"Not your call."

"Mac will never go for it either."

"Once Mac hears me out, I think he'll see things my way."

"No, he won't." But some panic crept into his face. She could see it.

She shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

When she went to turn away from him again, he reached out to grab her arm. "You will _not _put yourself at risk. I can't protect you if you do something stupid. You'll stay here where I can keep you safe."

She smiled with false sweetness, could practically see the foundation keeping his control in place start cracking. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

Almost black eyes stared back at her. "You'll want to be careful about pushing me, Lulu."

She stared down at the hand holding onto her arm, then back up at him. "You wouldn't hurt me." She knew that as an absolute truth.

"No," he agreed. "I wouldn't."

In under five seconds, she found herself pressed up against the closest window. She felt the chill on her back, heard the pattering of the rain. He didn't just kiss her then, he inhaled her. Demanded a complete surrender that she wasn't giving him, not yet. His lips were almost punishing in the way they took hers, but still she responded to him just as impassioned even though a tiny part of her brain told her to push him away. Instead she moaned as his tongue gained entry into the warm recesses of her mouth, lifted her hands up to his face as her teeth caught his lip and nipped at it, causing a rumble to erupt from his throat.

He pulled back, his breathing unstable. "You bring me to my fucking knees. Each and every damn time I look at you. I need you so fucking much."

She touched his face in understanding, in acceptance, even as she felt her blood rushing through her veins, her heart beating a frantic rhythm in her chest. But, God help her, this man exhausted her and frustrated her like no other. They had to move forward and it had to be tonight because she couldn't take much more. She didn't protest when he spun her around so she was now pressing front-first against the cool window pane. She gasped from the sensation on her achy nipples. He reached in front of her to drag his fingers over her stomach, making her skin tighten and tingle. His mouth trailed wet kisses from one shoulder to the other as his hands started stroking her back. She shivered and laid her forehead against the glass. One of his hands slid under her panties and sought out her clit, rubbing slow circles around it. Just enough to drive her crazy, to build her up, but not hard enough to give her the orgasm her body craved.

She clamped her lips together to keep from protesting when his hand retreated. But then she felt her pants and panties being dragged down her legs in a firm tug. She stepped out of them and her next breath was a shuddering gasp when she felt his lips press against one side of her ass, his tongue then tracing a trail back up to her neck where he lingered. She tried to turn her head to look at him, but before she could, her hands were captured in his and then pinned above her, effectively restricting both her movement and her field of vision.

She could have put an end to things right then if she wanted to. But she didn't want to. In some ways, she knew him better than he thought she did, just not always in the ways that she wished _she_ did. He didn't want to face her because there was something in his eyes he didn't want her to see.

"Keep your hands up there," he whispered gruffly in her ear and then she felt him grip her waist, felt his cock rubbing up against her. One of his hands left her to help maneuver his erection through her slick folds until it was probing the entrance to her sex. She spread her legs wider to give him better access. She was so close…so close to getting what she wanted, and she didn't just mean the release.

She tried to push back against him to bring him inside of her, but he continued to tease her, letting his cock run along the length of her slit but not penetrating.

"Just do it," she hissed, her hands fisting against the glass as the erotic tension coiled tighter and tighter. And then he was inside of her in one hard thrust that had her breath hitching from the sheer force of it, her nipples chafing against the window pane. Her hands were back on her hips as he helped her to bear down harder on the hot length of him. She felt even more stretched in this position, could feel herself gripping him much more snugly. He muttered incoherently into her shoulder, his teeth biting down gently while one of his fingers starting flicking teasingly at her clit. She was on the edge of oblivion, almost to the point where thought shattered. It had to be now.

"St…stop."

It took another moment before the word registered, before his body froze. "Lulu," he gasped.

She turned, moaned, when he slipped out of her. He looked pained, confused. And the emotion on his face was both raw and uncensored.

"I want you looking in my eyes. Nothing held back. Not anymore. Make me yours."

"You are," he groaned and then he lifted her in his arms, impaled her on his cock. She locked her ankles around his waist, her arms around his neck. He rocked her against him and she whimpered.

"Bed," she moaned against his neck when she felt his legs start to shake.

He carried her over to it, carefully lowering her down onto the sheets while staying planted inside of her. He brushed the hair out of her eyes as he began to pump in and out, building to an almost frenzied pace. But their eyes never left each other's. For each stroke, for each kiss, they were completely in tune. There wasn't a place inside her she didn't feel him. Words were both unspoken and unnecessary. They came together in a blinding rush, moans and cries melding together, bodies shuddering and slick with sweat, moments where the world was blocked out and the only thing that mattered, the only thing that existed, was them.

She could still feel the aftershocks long minutes later when she was curled on her side facing him. His hand was stroking idly along the curve of her hip, down her upper thigh.

"One more question," she spoke quietly.

"What's that?"

She searched his eyes, then braced herself. "Do you love me?"

He exhaled audibly. His hand stilled on her skin before she thought she felt just the slightest tremble in his fingers. She counted the moments in heartbeats until he answered her. Three. "Jesus." A pause. "Yes."

The words were barely above a whisper. She had to tell herself to breathe. Struggled to do just that. "Then say it." She knew it came out as a plea, but she didn't care.

He took a deep breath, obviously still not in his comfort zone but there was no effort to hide anything on his face or in his eyes. And what she saw there had tears forming in the corners of hers.

"I love you." His hand found hers until their fingers were intertwined. "So goddamn much I don't know what do with it."

_Finally_, everything inside her screamed. With a small cry she couldn't hold in, she pushed his shoulder until he was on his back and then she straddled him, lowering her face to his and covering his lips with hers. She knew a couple of tears had fallen onto his face. His hands cupped her cheeks when she pulled back, his thumbs brushing away the moisture.

"You okay?"

"Perfect," she smiled. And she was. This moment was. They were. She leaned down to kiss him again but then stopped when she saw his frown. "What?"

"Is this a one-way confession?"

Because she knew it would piss him off, she didn't voice that she thought he was adorably sexy when he sounded nervous. Her hands combed through his hair, running the strands through her fingers. She shook her head as she stared down at him. "If you didn't know I love you, you're a lousy detective."

He looked insulted, but then her lips were moving over his again, drawing his breath inside her. His hand rubbed her back. "I love you," she whispered against his mouth. "I have for awhile. Didn't think you would catch up."

He smiled, kissed her forehead. But still he looked worried. "Lulu." He paused. "I meant what I said. I don't know what the hell I'm doing."

And she knew that was a difficult thing for him to admit. She touched a finger to his lips, rubbed it softly. "We'll figure it out together."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Dante listened to the sound of rain pounding against the window, each beat relentless and insistent. Not unlike the effect the woman lying wrapped around him had on his heart. The heart that was in love with her. Had he been more shocked by the realization that he loved her or by the knowledge that she loved him back? He didn't know.

What he did know was that Lulu Spencer drove him out of his mind. Could make him lose control in an instant. Whether it had been her intention to push him or not, she sent him tumbling over the edge last night. The hesitation and vulnerability in her quiet "Do you love me?" had the wall around his heart cracking and then rebuilding until it was surrounded by just her. But the foundation felt shaky. Not because he doubted his feelings but because he was terrified of screwing things up, and wasn't that a kick in the ass? Before he met Lulu, he was always confident, and admittedly cocky at times. He never had qualms about his "fuck 'em and forget 'em" lifestyle – as long as he and the women he was with knew it was all in the name of a good time. Only on a couple of instances had he misjudged a woman's interest to be less than what it actually was. When he had ended it, he had gotten a "Go to hell" and "You're a bastard" respectively. He felt bad about hurting them, but he couldn't feel bad for not forcing feelings that weren't there.

He tilted his head to the side so he could get a better look at her face as her cheek rested against his chest. He could feel her warm breath on his skin, the gentle touch of her fingers as one of her hands laid low against his stomach. He knew his feelings for Lulu were anything but forced. They may have caught him off guard and knocked him on his ass, but she was inside of him. In a way that no one had ever come close to and a way he had serious doubts he could feel with anyone else. It was why he got so pissed off when she had tried to compare herself to other women he'd been with. What he had with Lulu was separate from that. Now he just had to figure out what to do next.

_We'll figure it out together._

He recalled her words before she had tried to kiss all his worries away and eventually ended up asleep in his arms.

If things went his way, they'd have either Bennett or Williams in custody today and charged with enough crimes to keep them in prison for the rest of their miserable lives. And then what? Would Lulu want to move back into her apartment? It would make sense. Because he told himself his desire to want her to stay with him was crazy. They should take time to really get to know each other, actually go out on a freaking date. Shouldn't they?

A flash of lightning lit up the room at the same time a loud crash of thunder boomed from what sounded like right outside the window. Lulu jumped in his arms, her eyes shooting open. He automatically tightened his arm around her and soothingly stroked her back, but also admitting to himself he'd use any excuse to touch her.

"Hi," she said softly, sleep still clouding the hazel eyes staring up at him.

His lips brushed a kiss against her forehead. "Hi."

"What time is it?"

"I'd check but that would require moving and I kind of like you like this."

She smiled at him and he made a sound of protest when she pushed off of him to glance at the clock on the ledge above the bed. "About ten after four."

She settled back down against him and rested her chin on her hands over his chest as she looked up at him. He slipped his arms around her and locked them around her back. More thunder rumbled.

"It's not letting up any, is it?"

"Should clear out by the afternoon."

"I used to be able to sit for hours and listen to that sound. I've written some of my best stuff in some of the worst storms."

"Somehow I don't think you need storms to help you with that."

"Aww," she said smiling. "You're just trying to get in my pants."

Grinning back, he let his hands fall lower until they were cupping her bare ass, his cock stirring to life. "Already did," he said lowly.

She squirmed a little when he started massaging her flesh. "Details." She paused. "I didn't think I could ever be this happy."

"No? You weren't happy with those other two guys?"

She looked at him strangely. "You really are jealous, aren't you?"

He just grunted. So, what if he was?

"My last relationship lasted over a year and a half."

An unpleasant feeling settled in his stomach. This was supposed to make him feel better?

"I didn't love him," she continued, and relief had the grip around his heart easing.

"Why stay with him that long?"

"Convenience. And nothing better coming along." Her shoulders moved in a shrugging motion. "He was another author. Nice guy. We barely saw each other because we were so busy and had our own schedules. The day we broke up, he told me he loved me. I don't think he did. He never even really knew me. And after he said those words, it just kind of hit me."

His hands had wandered back up and were rubbing idle circles in the small of her back. "What?"

"I never missed him. All that time we spent apart, not once did I miss him." She shook her head. "How can you love someone you never miss? When I suggested we call it off, I wasn't even sad. It felt more like a goodbye to a friend." Her fingers tapped lightly against his chest and she pushed herself further up his body until they were face to face. "And then you came around. God…As much as you irritated me, I missed you after a day."

Her admission flowed through him, tugged at his heart in a different way altogether. "You were just irritated that you wanted me so much."

Her mouth dropped open a little but still she laughed. "Shut up."

"Okay," he said and leaned forward just enough for his lips to latch onto hers. One of his hands slid around her neck as he took her deeper into his mouth, deeper inside of him. His tongue swept inside the warmth of her mouth, the tip of it engaging hers sensually. Her hair brushed against his cheeks and her hands clutched his shoulders. He kissed her like he couldn't get enough of her…because he couldn't. When he pulled back, his lips trailed over to her cheek and kissed it lightly. "Just so you know. I kind of started missing you that first night you left me hot and bothered in the kitchen after looking too sexy eating that ice cream."

Her smile lit up her face. "Just kind of?"

He smiled back, his hands moving the hair from her eyes, trapping the silky strands beneath his palms as he framed her face. "I am in love with you, Lesley Lu Spencer." And it was already getting easier to say.

Despite the pleasure he saw on her face, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How'd you find out my full name?"

"I'm a detective."

"Ah." She nodded her head. "You cheated."

"Saw it when I was looking through the previous police reports," he admitted.

She laughed and then leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his neck, let her lips nuzzle there a few moments until his breathing became deeper. "Thank you."

He tilted her chin up to look at him. "For what?"

"For being exactly what I need. For loving me. For saying it."

Her lips moved in another smile and he knew he could live the rest of his life just to see that smile. "I want to keep making you happy. I don't want to let you down, Lulu." He knew his voice had dropped at that last part.

"You couldn't." She touched her lips to his in a kiss he knew was meant to reassure and he was annoyed with himself for needing it. "I love you, Dante."

He knew it was the most open they had been with each other. He thought it should feel awkward stripping down his emotions, sharing them with her. But it wasn't. She soothed something inside of him. It was the best way he could explain it.

Gently, he eased himself away from her and stood up. He saw disappointment on her face but he held out a hand to her. "I want you to see what I see when I look at you."

Her eyebrows creased but her hand dropped into his waiting one and he helped to pull her up. It took every ounce of willpower not to let his hands roam all over her naked body in that moment. Keeping her hand in his, he led her towards the full length mirror that hung just outside the bathroom. When he positioned her a few feet in front of it, he saw uncertainty settle in her eyes.

"Dante…"

"Trust me." He walked back into the other room to grab a chair. When he brought it back, she was standing stiffly in the same place he left her. He stood in front of the chair and behind her but didn't sit down yet. He bent his head and rubbed his lips along one of her shoulders. "Relax, sweetheart." He stepped forward until his erection was pressing against her bottom. She sucked in a breath and leaned back against him. "Don't think. Just feel." He laid his palms flat against the sides of her upper thighs, dragged them up slowly until they settled on her hips. "And watch."

He moved his mouth to one of her ears and his tongue darted out to trace along the lobe, his teeth scraping against the part he knew to be the most sensitive and was rewarded by her shiver. He spread his hands across her abdomen and then trailed them lower. He could feel his cock harden against her, knew she felt it too. He looked at their reflection in the mirror, her eyes starting to glaze over, her hands gripping his wrists, her throat visibly working as she swallowed and then released a deep breath. He could feel her muscles loosening even more as she sagged against him. He liked seeing the contrast in their skin, his slightly darker against the paler tone of hers. Liked the way his hands looked as they journeyed over her body and the way she seemed to tremble beneath them.

Their gazes, laden with intensity and desire, locked in the mirror. He pulled his hands free so they could turn her face to his until their mouths were coming together and melding against one another. His tongue teased the seam of her lips until it pushed through to taste her. Her moan filled him with a sense of urgency as their tongues collided, rubbed, teased.

Pulling back, he glanced towards the mirror and watched the increasing rise and fall of Lulu's chest. She ran her tongue over her slightly swollen lips and his cock stirred as blood flowed and pooled.

"Have you ever watched yourself come?"

That delicate flush crept into her cheeks, but he held in his smile. She shook her head.

"You're going to," he said. "Keep your eyes on the mirror."

She blew out a breath but did as he said. He lifted his hands until they were holding the weight of her breasts in his palms. "Put your hands over mine." When she did so, he spread his fingers and then locked them together with hers. Their hands moved higher until they were rubbing circles around the tightening peaks of her nipples. A small sound escaped her throat as she arched against him. He curved his body around hers until he could lower his mouth and run his tongue along one of the nipples, his teeth then biting down gently and tugging. Her body jerked and her eyes blinked but he saw her keep her focus on the image of the two of them reflecting back at her.

He stood back up straight and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I love how responsive you are every time I touch you."

"So keep doing it," she whispered a little breathlessly, causing him to smile.

Keeping one pair of their joined hands over one of her breasts, he slid the other pair down her stomach, then over the pale curls at the juncture of her thighs and then finally sent them gliding over her slick folds. He dipped two of their fingers inside her. "Spread your legs wider." His voice was a little rougher than he intended, but damned if being with Lulu didn't reduce him to the most primal need a man could have to claim a woman. Masculine pride roared when she immediately obeyed, and he started stroking their joined fingers in and out, up and down the entire length of her sex. With the hold he had on her other hand, he made sure their fingers continued rubbing her nipple, then moving over to give the same attention to the other one. He could feel the moisture leaking out onto their hands down below and when he saw Lulu's eyes start to drift closed in the mirror, he thrust another pair of fingers deep inside of her. Her face twisted and she cried out. She bucked against their hands when one of his fingers stroked her distended clit with determination.

"Oh God…Oh God." Her breath came out in pants and when her teeth clamped down on her lower lip, he stopped all stimulation.

"You do that right before you come. Bite your lip like that. I don't want you to come until I'm inside of you."

She groaned in frustration. "Then get inside me. Dante. _Please._"

God, he needed that. So fucking bad. His hands slipped free from hers and then rested on her shoulders, slid down her arms. "Look at yourself. Do you see how hot you are? See what you do to me?" She didn't respond, but he saw the undisguised emotions in her eyes. "Flushed. Swollen. Wet. Mine."

Her head fell back against him and she moaned, the sound ragged and low. Had he ever seen a sexier woman? _Hell no_.

His cock throbbed to the point of pain. Shit. He couldn't wait any longer. He backed up until his knees hit the back of the chair and then he sat down. He reached forward and grabbed onto her hips and pulled her backwards until she was standing over him and straddling his legs. He peered around her so he could look into the mirror. Her lips were slightly parted, and her eyes, though somewhat hesitant, held a film of longing that matched his own need for her pulsing inside him.

"Watch me take you." He kissed the curve of her hip and his finger circled the baby-soft skin around her belly. Her legs shook when he fingered her clit again. "Watch me fuck you." He pinched the bundle of nerves in between two of his fingers and quickly released it. She stumbled, cried out softly. "Watch me make love to you."

Ending their current torture, yet beginning a different kind altogether, he positioned his cock where he wanted it with one hand, and with the other he guided her down until he was sliding inside of her inch by agonizingly slow inch. He ignored the soreness he was starting to feel in his back from being craned in this position…because he wanted to see it. See himself sinking into the slick heat of her that felt like home. See her opening and stretching around him. See the passion that completely overtook her face. He spread his legs wider, forcing her to collapse down fully against him with her legs draped over his thighs, the action sending him buried to the hilt. In the mirror, he saw shock cross her face as she gasped for air. He clenched his teeth and could feel the sweat breaking out from his pores while her walls squeezed and pulsed around him so tightly he felt it through every nerve in his body.

"You okay?" The words came out in a grunt.

* * *

He was asking if she was okay? She could barely breathe. She mumbled some kind of a response that she thought sounded enough like "yes" that he would get the point and start moving. She felt completely vulnerable in this position, spread open and at his mercy. She slipped her left arm around his shoulder and then leaned back further against him. She could have sworn she felt him nudging against her womb. His eyes pierced hers through the mirror. How she was able to keep hers open she had no idea. She stared mesmerized at the sight of their joined bodies. The way he disappeared inside of her, the way she opened to accommodate him. Nothing was more perfect or more right. Or more erotic. He had a way of setting her on fire and it went straight to her soul.

She watched as he lifted her so that he slid out of her until just the head of his cock remained inside of her. She whimpered at the loss and then groaned when he ground her back down against him until she felt, and saw, the hardness of his balls pressing against her. Small spasms already fluttered around his erection and she felt him jerk a little inside of her. Removing her arm from his shoulder, she leaned forward and braced her hands above his knees. Experimenting, she started rocking herself forwards and then back. She could hear his harsh breaths from behind her. She could no longer see his face in the mirror because he had straightened and was now tracing his tongue along the skin on her back. His hands circled around her stomach and the next time she started to move forward, she found herself being thrust back against him. Her nails dug into his skin and she felt the telltale tightening in her sex and in her belly.

"Going…to…come," she half-moaned, half-cried. She saw herself bite down hard on her lip. Funny how she never picked up on that until he mentioned it. He maneuvered them until she was lying back against him, her upper body somewhat tilted, the position allowing her to see him in the mirror again and giving her the opportunity to reach back and fist her hand in his hair. Almost at once, his index finger pressed against her throbbing clit and circled around it. It was all she needed. She tried to stay focused on the mirror, remembering his earlier comment about watching herself come, but her vision became a blur as everything inside her splintered, then shattered. Full body shudders wracked her and she felt his hands close over her breasts, his teeth graze her shoulder and then bite down. She felt each twitch of his cock as it pulsed hot semen inside her. The shout of what sounded like her name must have come from him, she realized vaguely, just as the keening cry she heard must have been coming from her lips.

She had to blink her eyes until her sight readjusted long moments later and she was able to stare back at their reflection. She was completely slumped against him, a few strands of hair clung to sweat that had beaded on her forehead. She looked shaken, yet completely satisfied. His hands were intimately splayed over her belly, his fingers resting possessively above her sex. He had slipped out of her body but she could see the evidence of their joining between her thighs. His eyes penetrated inside her even through the mirror. She swallowed and then turned her head so she was looking into the real thing and not a reflection, and the jolt to her heart hit her even harder.

"I think I missed what you wanted me to see," she said weakly.

He turned her so she was sitting sideways in his lap. His hand cupped the back of her head and brought her face down to his. "You saw exactly what I wanted you to see."

Confused, she looked into his eyes. But instead of answering, he kissed her in a tender meeting of lips. Her fingers played lightly over his chains before she looped her arms around his neck, his murmured "I love you" against her mouth taking her to a place where she felt nothing could ever go wrong again.

* * *

"You can come with me, you know. Wait at the station."

She smiled but shook her head and watched as he finished getting ready. They had already showered and eaten breakfast when Lucky had called to say the DNA results were expected back within the next couple of hours. "I'd just be in the way there. Sounds like you guys will be pretty busy today."

"I just want to be able to come back here and tell you that it's all over."

She wanted that too. No matter the outcome, she knew she'd be able to deal with the fallout as long as she had Dante by her side. She already knew she wanted him in her future.

She grabbed his badge from the table and walked over to him, slipped it into his hand. "I love you, Detective." Her lips touched his.

"Mmm. I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that." He pulled her into his arms and just held her. He kissed the top of her head and gently rubbed her back before reluctantly pulling away. "And in case I didn't tell you…You look really sexy in my shirt."

He tugged at the hem that landed at her upper thighs and the smile reappeared on her face. As ridiculous as it sounded, it smelled like him and she didn't want to take it off. Yeah, she had it bad.

He gave her another too brief kiss and walked over to the elevator and pushed the button.

"And one more thing," he began after he stepped inside. "I love you, too."

The elevator door closed, cutting off her view of his smiling face, and her heart sighed.

* * *

Before Dante headed to his car, he walked across the street towards the unmarked police sedan. If he recalled correctly, it was McKinley's rotation, and he wanted to give him some last minute instructions. The rain was still coming down, but thankfully not the downpour of a few hours ago. After knocking on the window and getting no response, he frowned. He couldn't see anything through the tinted windows so he reached down to grab the door handle. Finding it unlocked, he pulled the door open and cursed.

He forced down the bile as he stared at McKinley slumped back against the seat, throat slit. One of his hands reached for his phone while the other automatically reached for his weapon. He had to call it in. Had to get up to Lulu. Had to do his job. Had to ignore the panic that started rising.

He felt a sharp bite of pain in his shoulder. Felt his body jerk forward. He looked down at his arm, saw a pool of red spreading underneath his shirt. _Son of a bitch_. He'd been hit. He spun around, his eyes scanning wildly, his good arm lifting his gun but there was no target to shoot at. Where the fuck was he? He hadn't even heard a goddamn thing. His breath expelled in a grunt of pain, his body slamming back against the car. _What the hell?_ He heard the sound of his gun as it fell against the concrete. He looked blindly for his phone but spots formed behind his eyes, numbness settled in his arm. Hot, searing, agonizing pain lanced his gut. Staring down through blurry eyes he saw a fresh circle of blood forming near his stomach. _Oh, fuck_. _Fuck_. Not good.

His knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, rain mixing with the blood pooling around him. The spots behind his eyes turned to swirling colors.

_Lulu._

It was his last thought before the colors turned to black and he felt nothing at all.

* * *

Her cell phone rang. Lulu glanced down at the screen as the unknown number popped up. She frowned, debated ignoring it, but finally answering and bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Lulu?"

The voice on the other line was frantic, panicked. And unfamiliar.

"Who is this?"

"It's Josh."

Josh? Her mind searched for recognition. Josh Bennett?

"Michael's son?"

"Yes. Yes." The voice was impatient. "Lulu, I think Dad is going to do something stupid."

A sense of dread filled her. "What are you talking about?"

"I walked in on him in his office. He was completely crazy. I've never seen him like that. He kept muttering that today it would be over." The words came out in a rush and Lulu felt her heart beating painfully hard in her chest. "There were pictures of you. Spread all over his desk. God, Lulu. I think he's the one who's been doing those things to you."

No. She didn't want to believe it. Never wanted to believe it. "Josh –"

"I tried to stop him. I tried." His voice cracked. "He made a comment that he had to take care of Detectives Spencer and Falconeri. When I tried to stop him, he hit me."

"Oh, God." This couldn't be happening.

"Lulu, we have a gun. It's not here. And Dad took off over an hour ago." She heard him take an audible breath while hers seemed to cease altogether. "I called the cops. Jesus. I don't know what else to do. But I had to let you know. Had to…" His voice trailed off, sounded like he was in shock.

Her brain yelled for her to do something instead of just standing there lamely and useless. "Josh, I have to go." She hung up the phone without waiting for a response and then immediately dialed Dante's cell phone. She listened with increasing panic at each unanswered ring until finally his voicemail picked up. He was okay. He had to be okay. Josh was wrong.

She forced her legs to move, forced herself to throw on the first pair of pants and shirt she could find. She had to do something. She had to see for herself that Dante and her brother were okay. She slipped on her shoes, grabbed her purse and started to dial Lucky's number, willing him to answer, as she walked over to the door and pulled it open.

She froze in disbelief, confusion, and then terror at the man blocking the door. At Josh Bennett as he stood with a sick smile spreading over his face, his hand holding up his cell phone. He reached out and easily slipped the phone from her hand and tucked it along with his into his pocket.

"I'll take that. Hi, Lulu. I missed you. Did you miss me?"

The voice was completely different from the one she heard on the phone just moments before. This one was cold…dead. As dead as she'd be if she didn't do something.

But she didn't get the chance. He had pulled out a gun and the last thing she saw was the butt of it as it came slamming down against her head.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Realization did not slam into her instantly. No, it came back to her as slowly as her consciousness.

First came the throbbing, insistent ache in her head. Then, the knowledge that she couldn't move her arms. They were twisted behind her and she felt the cold bite of metal around her wrists, knew she had been handcuffed. Just like she knew there was tape covering her mouth. It didn't stop her groan of pain.

She felt the wooden back of a chair digging into the upper part of her arms. Her head was slightly slumped over, and when her eyes fluttered open and she processed that she was sitting in the same chair she and Dante had made love in not too long ago, a part of her ridiculously wanted to laugh. Another part wanted to curl up and cry.

_Dante_. Where was he? Where was Lucky? Were they okay?

When her head lifted until she was looking into the crazy eyes of Josh Bennett standing above her, it was fear that came instantly.

"Good. You're awake. Was worried I hit you too hard."

Her gaze lowered to the gun he held in his hand and he just smiled. A smile that made her skin crawl.

"You know the thing about guns? They're so distasteful. Except, of course, when they're necessary." He stepped closer to her and when her feet went to automatically kick out in defense, she grunted in dismay when she realized they were tied to the legs of the chair. He laughed at her and continued. "Like using it to take care of that detective you're fucking." He briefly held a finger to his lips as if in thought. "Or_ were_ fucking. It's kind of hard to fuck a dead guy."

She whimpered behind the tape. She could feel her heart as it pounded a painful rhythm inside her chest. _No_. It wasn't true. It wasn't. It couldn't be.

"I borrowed those cuffs you're wearing from him. Didn't think he'd mind. Hell, maybe he's even used them on you before."

Nausea rolled in her stomach. When Josh held up a wallet that looked like Dante's, everything inside her froze. He opened it, pulled something out and held it up to her. Dante's driver's license. "I already knew where he lived, of course. But this helped with the apartment number." He tossed the wallet on her lap. "Sorry, it's a little…."

Bloody. It was covered in blood. Tears burned her eyes, and a cry that seemed to be ripped from her soul erupted behind the tape. The nausea quickly made its way up her throat and she knew she was going to be sick. He tossed the gun down on the bed a couple feet from where he had her positioned in the chair. She felt the tape being ripped off her mouth and barely processed the physical pain because the emotional pain running through her body blocked everything else out. She leaned forward, turned her head to the side, and almost violently retched.

_It didn't mean he was dead_. It was a chant she repeated over and over as she tried to hold onto a shred of hope. But even the thought of him lying bleeding, dead or dying, had fresh waves of tears streaming down her face. This was all her fault.

She felt a towel being dragged roughly over her mouth and she tried to jerk away.

"Ugh. You made a mess." He seemed to look at her in disgust before throwing the towel on the floor. "Go ahead and scream," he said, when she opened her mouth to do just that. "No one's home across the hall. I checked. And unfortunately for you, I also had to take care of that other cop they had watching the building across the street."

She hadn't even seen him pull out the knife until he waved it front of her face. She saw some blood along the blade and had to fight down more bile rising from her throat. He may has well have twisted it in her heart. Another person dead because of her. _Oh, God_. Had he used that on Dante too? Hopeless despair filled her. She couldn't lose him. Refused to believe she had.

"I'm only sorry your brother wasn't here too. Oh, well."

She let out a breath. Lucky was okay. Thank God.

He dragged the blade along the same cheek he had cut before. As much as she tried to remain calm, she felt her breath hitch, her body shudder involuntarily. She tried to blink away the tears that were blurring her vision and then winced when she felt his thumb rubbing underneath each eye. Just having him touching her was enough to make her want to throw up again.

"My patience paid off. It's amazing what you can find out and what you can see when people don't think you're watching." He didn't elaborate. Instead, she felt the sharp prick as the tip of the blade cut into her skin. She sucked in a breath but kept in the cry of pain as she felt it go deeper, move higher along her cheek. He wanted to see the pain, she knew. She could see it in the cruel blackness of his eyes. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"You can't get rid of my mark so easily, Lulu." When he drew the knife back, she felt the warm trickle of blood. She looked down and thoughts of Dante bombarded her when she saw the wallet still lying in her lap. He had become everything to her in such a short period of time. She knew if she had any hope of getting out of this, she had to push him to the back of her mind and just believe he was okay. And she desperately tried to do just that. Josh's voice brought her back to the bleakness of her current situation.

"I guess you guys didn't figure out my message after all. Can't say I'm surprised." When she was silent, he shook his head, obviously upset that he wasn't getting the reaction he wanted. "Two. Two days and you'd be all mine."

The two that had been written with the victim's blood. They had assumed he meant two more victims. Though with the cop assigned to surveillance of the building and Dante…_Don't think about it_.

She looked back up at Josh, and she just couldn't reconcile it. Couldn't reconcile how this could be the same person whom she'd shared more than one dinner with, the son of a man who had treated her like a daughter more than a client. The same man she had started to have doubts about. And God, Josh couldn't be more than what – twenty-one? Twenty-two? The first time Michael had introduced her to his family about six years ago, she remembered it had been Josh's sixteenth birthday because Michael had bought him a car after he had gotten his learner's permit. Michael had been so proud. And Josh had always been so….sweet. Shy even. How does somebody like that, and somebody so young, turn into a monster?

"Why?" she croaked from her dry throat. "Why are you doing this?"

"You never saw me." There was anger behind his eyes. "You were perfect and you made me fall in love with you and you never even looked at me."

She knew her eyes widened. He thought he was in love with her? She didn't voice that he wouldn't have known what love was at sixteen. She was just now starting to discover what that was herself and it had been over a decade since she had been that fragile age. Her mind tried to flash back to all the times she had spent with Michael's family. Had she ever done anything to lead him on? Encourage him? Was there yet another thing she was responsible for? But as she searched her memories, nothing came to her.

"I waited. I thought maybe when I turned eighteen, then you'd start to notice me. But you didn't. I tried to be interested in other girls, but they weren't you. I wanted _you_. I didn't even stay in the dorms at UB because I didn't want to miss your visits to the house."

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to keep him talking, give her a chance to think of a way out of this.

"You're not sorry," he accused angrily. "Do you remember your birthday dinner two years ago? You had the nerve to bring a _date_." He sneered at the last word.

She had brought the man she was in a relationship with at the time. She struggled to come up with a response, but he had continued talking.

"You know what I did that night? I picked up a prostitute. I pretended she was you. But she wasn't. And I killed her. That's when I knew I could get away with it."

A chill glided through her body at how matter-of-factly he spoke about taking someone's life. And once more, she tried to tamp down on the guilt.

"It was so easy to tag along with Dad on your tour. I had the perfect access. And I finally worked up the nerve to send you those letters, the flowers." He paused, and when he looked down at her, there was such pure hatred in his eyes that she had to look away. But then he roughly grabbed her jaw and forced her to look back at him. "You rejected me."

"You didn't even sign your name."

"YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" he screamed in her face, causing her to jump. She shrunk back away from him as her hope to talk him down dwindled.

"I'm tired of talking." He bent down and slipped off the shoe from her right foot. Before she could even wonder why he did that, he stood up. "The only thing I want from you now is your pain. And when I kill you, then you'll be out of my system for good."

He stepped down hard on her bare foot, right below her toes, and ground down to the point where she felt the crunch of bones. As much as she wanted to keep from reacting, she couldn't hold back the scream that tore free from her throat or the tears that fell freely from eyes that were squinted in agony. _Oh God, it hurt_.

He pulled the t-shirt forward from her body and dragged the knife down it, easily tearing through the material. He ripped it the rest of the way open until her bra was bared. Repulsion radiated from every nerve ending when he crudely grabbed a breast and pressed the knife against the tender skin above her bra. She cried out and then bit down on her lip, tasting the blood that dripped down from her cheek. She tried to breathe through the pain, ignore the pain.

But it was the pain that steeled her determination. She would _not_ sit back helplessly and just let him kill her. She'd fight. For herself, for Dante.

"I'm so sorry," she cried, hoping she had managed to make her face look contrite. "You're right, Josh. I haven't been fair to you." She had to take a few deep breaths. Adrenaline pumped in her blood and helped to keep her going. "I did notice you." She nodded when he looked like he was going to explode in anger again, but at least the knife had stilled against her flesh. "I did! I was scared. I'm older than you. I shouldn't have wanted you. I was afraid of what everyone would think. Of what your dad would think."

The lies were bitter against her tongue but she forced her expression to stay repentant, pleading. "I tried to forget you too. With every guy. I swear. Please believe me. I won't pretend anymore."

"You're trying to trick me." The hand holding the knife to her skin shook. She saw some of the anger drain from his face, replaced by distrust. But there was hope there too she noticed. And she'd do anything to capitalize on that.

"No." She shook her head. "No, I'm not. I swear. I'll prove it. Uncuff my hands. Let me make you feel good."

Her stomach turned as she forced each word out, even more so when she saw almost childlike excitement in his eyes.

"I don't trust you."

She held in a groan of frustration. "Fine. Then cuff them in the front. I need my hands. You'll like it," she added when she noticed he was hedging.

He remained frozen in place for the longest time before he finally pulled the key to the handcuffs out from his pocket. He leaned in close and pressed the knife against her throat. "If you try anything, I will literally rip your heart out."

He was insane. Soulless. She forced a nod and then he moved behind her to unlock the cuffs. But her wrists were never free. He kept them locked together with his hands, brought one hand in front of her and then the other before he quickly had the cuffs snapped back in place.

She closed her eyes in both mental and physical exhaustion. _Think, damn it_.

She saw him reach down and grab Dante's wallet and throw it carelessly to the ground. She wanted to scream at him, to hit him. From the corner of her eye, she saw the gun he had thrown on the bed. It was near the edge, so close. She forced a smile on her face as she looked up at Josh. "Unzip your pants. But then lean down. I want to kiss you."

_Don't throw up. Don't throw up._

He kept the knife in his hand the whole time. She held in a breath when he bent down. When his face was about an inch away from hers, she reared back suddenly and slammed her head forward against his face, making contact with his nose. She took no time to take satisfaction in his roar of pain as he stumbled back nor could she focus on the explosion that seemed to go off in her head. She knew she had to move fast. With a grunt, she put all her energy into lifting herself awkwardly from the ground. She couldn't stand up straight with her feet attached to the chair and she heard herself scream in agony from the pressure on her likely broken foot. But she moved and twisted just enough until her hands were sliding around the gun on the bed. She hoped to hell it was close enough to the one she used at the range, to the ones that were shown to her in class, that she'd be able to use it.

She fumbled to get her finger around the trigger, almost lost her grip entirely trying to hold the gun with cuffed hands. When she turned to point it at him – because that's all she could do in her position instead of truly aiming – he was coming at her with the knife. With a sob, she pulled the trigger and squeezed her eyes shut. The shot was deafening, the force sending the chair collapsing back down to the ground and almost flipping her over entirely. Her head jerked back.

She heard Josh yell in rage, thought she heard someone else shouting her name. She gasped for breath, forced her eyes open and saw Lucky, Ronnie, and two other cops come rushing into the apartment. _But no Dante_. An anguished pang latched onto her heart.

Lucky ran over to her while she vaguely saw Ronnie bending down where Josh had dropped. She heard him howling in pain. She had hit him, but he was alive. She wanted him dead. God help her, but she wanted him dead.

She felt her feet being freed, heard the cuffs unlocking around her hands, saw Lucky gently take the gun away from her and pull her into his arms. He was talking to her, asking her questions, but she didn't hear the actual words. They were just empty noises. She didn't care about the pain anymore. Or about the blood that still flowed from the cuts on her cheek and her breast. She only cared about one thing right at that moment.

"Dante," she cried. "Where's Dante?"

She pulled back and through the tears in her eyes, she saw the grim look on Lucky's face. She shook her head. "No." She shook her head again. "He's not dead," she sobbed. "He's not dead."

"Lulu," Lucky said gently. "He's not dead." He said the words carefully. So carefully she knew he left out an unspoken one – _yet_. But that wasn't going to happen, she told herself vehemently. "He's on the way to the hospital," Lucky continued. "It's not good."

Dizziness and nauseousness assailed her as her breath became trapped by another sob. "Take me to him," she demanded weakly even as she started to feel like she was floating outside her body. "Take me to him," she repeated, this time a whisper as seconds later that white cloud of nothingness consumed her.


	27. Chapter 27

Note:

Thanks again guys. Words cannot say how awesome you are for all your nice feedback/comments. It's definitely the motivation to continue. There will be one chapter left after this one. Also, I'm not even close to having decent medical knowledge so please forgive errors. I have to give this an angst warning as well that won't be resolved until the last chapter (there's another note at the bottom for after you read [lol and hopefully you still want to]).

* * *

**Chapter 27**

He died.

For three minutes and twenty-two seconds, his heart had stopped beating.

When Lulu had regained consciousness in the emergency room, she had become hysterical. She refused medical attention until someone gave her an update on Dante. Lucky had held her through her panicked tears and had tried to calm her down, but there was only one thing that would have soothed her and that was knowing that Dante was okay.

But they couldn't tell her that.

Dr. Robin Scorpio had brought her the news that when Dante was found, he barely had a pulse. They lost him on the way to the hospital for those three minutes and twenty-two seconds before they were able to resuscitate him. He was rushed into surgery immediately and was currently in extremely critical condition.

_He was alive_.

She had repeated that over and over in her head, but she had started shaking and crying so uncontrollably they ended up having to sedate her.

Now, over two and a half hours later, Lucky was helping her to the ICU waiting room. Her head was sore and had a bump, would have yet another bruise, but surprisingly there was no signs of a concussion this time. Both the cut on her cheek and the one on her breast had required stitches – eight on her cheek and six on her breast. She had three fractures in the lower parts of her third and fourth toes. The location of the breaks made taping them impossible so they had fitted her for a surgical shoe and crutches. Considering she hadn't used crutches in over 10 years and she couldn't yet put pressure on her foot without nauseating pain shooting up her leg, the journey was both exhausting and awkward as she hobbled with Lucky flanking her side in case she needed assistance.

The medications they had given her succeeded in dulling her senses somewhat, but she still felt on the edge of sanity. Anxiety and distress weaved strangling threads around her heart.

She caught sight of Olivia on one of the couches in the corner of the waiting room. Fresh tears started leaking from her eyes when Olivia stood, walked over to her, and immediately wrapped her arms around her. Lulu let out one small sob and clung to her as best she could without losing the grip on her crutches.

She felt Lucky place a hand on her back. "I'm going to go wait over there with Ronnie and Mac," he said gently.

Lulu pulled away and turned her head to another section of the room where Ronnie, Mac, and at least eight other officers were huddled together.

Olivia and Lucky seemed to exchange a glance before Olivia said, "I'll take care of her."

Olivia helped her over to the couch and then set Lulu's crutches off to the side. When Olivia turned back to look at her, the grief mixed with concern and sympathy were nearly her undoing.

"Oh, honey." Olivia grabbed Lulu's hand and squeezed it tightly after she had sat down beside her. "I'm so sorry."

Lulu could only stare in shock. "How can you not hate me right now?"

Olivia's expression matched her own. "Hate you? How could I hate you?"

"I'm the reason Dante's in there fighting for his life." The words were quiet but the guilt was like a reverberating scream in her ears.

"No," Olivia said fiercely. "There's only one person who put him in there, and you had nothing to do with it."

Lulu disagreed silently. "Have you heard anything at all?"

Olivia shook her head. "He's still in surgery. My boy is strong and stubborn as hell. If anyone can pull through this, he can. And will. We have to believe that. He's got the best doctors in there working on him."

"I need to believe that," Lulu said and brought the back of her hand up to her eyes to wipe away some tears. "I love him. So much."

Olivia slipped an arm around Lulu's waist and pulled her closer. "I know."

"He told me loves me too."

Olivia's lips lifted in a small smile. "I probably knew that before he did. You're so good for him, Lulu."

"He's perfect for me." And if she lost him, it would destroy her.

"What happened exactly? I only heard bits and pieces."

Lulu stiffened and then shuddered as her mind flashed back to those moments of horror with Josh.

"If it's too difficult to talk about –"

"It's okay." It wasn't, but she knew she'd have to get used to telling the story, and she doubted there would be anyone easier to tell it to than Olivia. So she did, trying to emotionally detach herself as the words came out of her mouth, but the experience was too raw, too traumatic, especially having to speak of when Josh threw Dante's bloodied wallet on her lap. She caught the wince on Olivia's face and felt her own lips tremble in response. That blood would be on her hands if Dante didn't make it. _He's going to make it_.

Finally, she forced the rest of the words out. Through it all, Olivia kept her hand firmly wrapped around hers, and when she was finished, she found herself being drawn into a hug that was both protective and consoling.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I can't even imagine how scared you must have been. But you saved yourself."

"Dante saved me." She told Olivia how Dante took her to the shooting range, how he was the one to first provide pointers for self-defense and along with her brother convinced her to take classes, leaving out the actual details of that…encounter…at Lucky's house. She also remembered vividly it was the first time Dante had kissed her, the first time she really understood what it felt like to go weak at the knees from one touch, from the right man. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and shook away the thoughts. When she looked back over at Olivia, she was looking at her in concern.

"Lulu…" She seemed to hesitate.

"What?"

"Dante will blame himself for this."

Lulu closed her eyes momentarily with a heavy sigh. Yes, she realized. He would. And she wasn't sure how she would handle that.

Olivia pulled away to reach into her purse. Lulu recognized Dante's badge and his chains immediately and she found herself holding her breath.

"They gave these to me when I got here. He hates being without them. I think he'd want you to hold onto them until he wakes up."

Her breath releasing in a gush of air, she took them from Olivia and closed her hands around them and brought them closer to her chest, not caring how foolish it might have been. "Thank you," she whispered, and then felt guilt creep in that Olivia had to be a nervous wreck inside waiting to hear about Dante and yet she had spent every moment trying to comfort _her_.

"Dante loves you so much," Lulu told her. "I can tell anytime he talks about you. And I know you're the reason he's such a good man, whether he realizes he is or not."

Lulu could see moisture dot Olivia's eyes. She rested her head against Olivia's shoulder and the action was automatic, natural. It made her miss even more the relationship that she once had with her own mother, but yet at the same time, it filled a void that desperately needed filling.

"So now what?" Lulu asked. She slipped Dante's badge into her pocket but kept his chains in her palm and ran her fingers over the metal as if she could suddenly will Dante to appear.

"Now we wait."

* * *

That wait was an agonizing three and a half more hours. Her heart literally stopped in her chest the moment Dr. Steven Webber entered the waiting room and walked in their direction. She had met the Chief of Staff only once before but knew he led a more than solid surgical team. And she hoped to hell good news would come out of his mouth. Each step as he got closer appeared to go in slow-motion until finally he reached them, pulled over a chair and sat down in front of them. Her brother and the rest of the police entourage had walked over to be within hearing distance. Despite her inner turmoil, it didn't escape Lulu's notice that Dr. Webber had placed a hand on Olivia's knee briefly before pulling it away.

"He made it through surgery, but he's still in critical condition."

If she wasn't already sitting down, the relief that rocked her system would have made her muscles useless under her weight.

"I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know how he survived that, and he's not out of the woods yet. Gunshot wounds near the abdominal area are almost always fatal. More often than not, the stomach, liver, spleen or kidney ruptures depending on where the person is hit. Or it goes through the spinal chord. The bullet appears to have passed through him cleanly and amazingly didn't hit any of his vital organs. But there was still some internal bleeding." He paused to take a breath. "He coded again in the operating room but not as long as he did in the ambulance. He lost a tremendous amount of blood. That he made it through surgery at all is a medical miracle."

Lulu grasped more tightly onto the chains. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked with a shaky voice.

Dr. Webber gave her a sympathetic look. "I can't answer that right now. We're going to do everything we possibly can. We were able to repair the damage internally as much as we could. He's probably going to need another surgery in the next couple of days. Right now, we have him heavily medicated and on a ventilator."

He must have seen the looks of distress on hers and Olivia's faces because he added, "His body suffered too much trauma and he lost too much blood. While he _could_ probably breathe on his own, it would be too much work for his body right now and impact his chances for recovery. We want to relieve as much stress on his organs as possible. We'll monitor him closely and if things progress okay, we should be able to switch him to either an oxygen mask or nasal cannula tomorrow. We plan to keep him under sedation until then. He'll also be getting regular blood transfusions until he stabilizes. But I can't lie to you. The next forty-eight hours especially are going to be critical. He's at high risk for infections and more internal bleeding."

Her heart physically hurt. It felt like a sledgehammer was being knocked against her chest cavity. Dr. Webber's words suddenly made Dante's injuries more real, injecting her with the hard reality of how close she came, could possibly still come, to losing him forever. _He can pull through this_.

"Thankfully, the bullet wound to the shoulder was relatively minor. Had both a clean entry and exit wound. We have his arm immobilized for now but I don't foresee any issues there."

Lulu glanced over at Olivia. She knew beneath the stoic face there was a terrified mother. "What aren't you saying?" she heard Olivia ask.

"Olivia…" Dr. Webber began and Lulu watched the exchange between them in mild fascination though too much of her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Dante to let it be more than a passing observation.

After another few moments of silence, Dr. Webber finally started speaking again. "Once a person goes up to four minutes and above without oxygen and blood flowing to the brain, you have to worry about brain damage. Dante didn't get up to that concurrently but combined he did. We won't know if he suffered any impact until he wakes up."

Lulu couldn't hold in the small cry. _He had to be okay. He had to. He would be_. "When can we see him?"

"We should have him back into one of the ICU rooms shortly. I'll have a nurse come and get you. Try to keep it one visitor at a time for now." He stood up. "He's obviously strong, and he's obviously fighting. We're going to do everything we can on the medical end to make sure he's okay."

When he started to walk away, Lulu called out to him. "What…What about that officer? And…" God, it was hard to even say his name when her throat seemed to want to choke on it. "Josh Bennett?"

Dr. Webber glanced from Lulu to Olivia. "Officer McKinley was dead upon arrival."

_Oh, God. _

"I didn't work on Mr. Bennett. But it appears the gunshot wound was to his thigh. It missed his major arteries and all indications are he'll make a full recovery."

Lulu closed her eyes. _Damn his living soul to hell._

_

* * *

_  
He was so pale. So motionless. Fragile was a word she never would have thought to call him, but seeing him lying there in that hospital bed, that was exactly what came to mind.

Olivia had insisted that Lulu go in to see him first when Epiphany had come out to say they could see him now. Gone were the snarky comments and sense of humor she was so used to seeing from Epiphany. She was patient and somber as she helped Lulu to Dante's room, catching her stumble and helping to steady her when Lulu had faltered on her crutches after first laying eyes on Dante.

Now Lulu sat in a chair by the bed and watched as a machine helped to breathe air into his lungs through a tube they had attached to his mouth and affixed to his face. That ache in her heart came back with a vengeance. She would switch places with him in a moment if it meant he would open those brown eyes of his and look at her in that way that made her feel like she was the only person in the world to him. If he would just smile that smile that made her insides melt and make it impossible to feel anything but perfect. If he would just open his mouth and tell her that everything was going to be okay, that they'd be okay, and that she'd be absolved of the guilt that was eating her alive.

But all she could do was stare helplessly at him as the tears streamed down her face. _And, God, would the tears ever stop?_

She was afraid to touch him. Afraid to even say a word. Sudden panic gripped her and she knew she had to get out of there. The last thing she needed to do was break down in Dante's room while he battled for his life.

She struggled for breath through the anxiety and exertion of maneuvering with the crutches. She had made it halfway to the waiting room before coming to a sudden halt when a figure stopped before her.

_Michael. _

Her throat constricted and her fingers tightened around the hand grips of the crutches.

"Lulu." His voice and his face was that of a broken man. And she couldn't bring herself to feel any sympathy. "I didn't…I didn't know. I…" He paused. "I'm so sorry."

He had taken a step forward and she almost fell backwards trying to jerk away. She tried to ignore the fact that he looked as if she had slapped him. She just couldn't look at him, couldn't talk to him, without thinking about _him_.

"Please leave me alone," she whispered.

"You heard her."

Lulu looked over Michael's shoulder to see her brother heading over to them. Michael glanced from Lucky to Lulu, and then with a defeated look on his face, he turned and walked away.

Lucky didn't have to ask if she was okay. He simply walked over to her and enveloped protective arms around her.

* * *

"You'll need to stay in there with him for longer than five minutes at some point."

Lulu looked over at Olivia, who was sitting beside her on the waiting room couch they had gotten way too familiar with over the past three days.

Dante had made it over that forty-eight hour hump without any other major complications. Two days ago, they had had to operate on him again to relieve some minor bleeding, but they were able to do so fairly quickly without causing any additional trauma.

Yesterday morning, they had taken him off the ventilator, and switched him to regular oxygen through the nasal cannula Dr. Webber had referred to the other day, much less invasive, and so far, no negative impact to his vitals. But he was still listed in critical condition.

Her nerves felt like sharp pricks of needles along every inch of her skin. They had also weaned him off the drugs they had been using to keep him sedated. Dr. Webber wanted him to wake up so they could finally assess any neurological damages. The head CT they ran on him last night hadn't indicated any immediate red flags, but that didn't necessarily mean anything either. She was trying not to think about that.

But Olivia was right. She hadn't been able to stay more than a few minutes at a time in Dante's room. "It's so hard to see him like that."

Olivia gave her leg a light tap. "He needs you. Probably now more than ever. I have no doubt in my mind that he can hear what people are saying to him. But it's your voice he needs now. It's your face he needs to see when he wakes up."

Lulu sighed. "I've been selfish."

"No, honey, you've been scared."

"Is there anyone you can't see through?"

Olivia smiled. "Not yet."

Though the almost constant throbbing ache hadn't disappeared from her foot, it was at least easier to move around on the crutches except for the exhausted muscles in her arms from taking the brunt of the pressure. When she made it into Dante's room and got settled into the chair next to his bed, she took a deep breath and studied him. His mouth had seemed to settle in a slight frown, his complexion still void of natural color. His hair fell in disheveled strands across his forehead, and she found herself mentally counting every single eyelash that fell against the tops of his cheekbones. She leaned forward and then brushed his hair out of his eyes and let her palm fall lower until it rested against the warmth of his cheek. The breath that escaped from her lips was stuttered. It was the first time she had touched him in all the times she had been in this room, and she felt the impact from her fingertips straight to her heart.

"Dante," she said softly.

Her eyes moved to the screen monitoring his oxygen, pulse, and blood pressure. She had become obsessed with studying each of those numbers, panicked when they changed even a little. A couple of times the alarms had gone off while she had been in the room, indicating a particular level had dropped too low, and each time the beat of her heart matched the rapid rhythm of the machine.

His left arm had been placed in a sling to keep him from moving it around and cause stress to the wound in his shoulder. Not that he was doing much of anything, much less moving.

But he was breathing. He was breathing on his own, and that was the most important thing. Every time Lulu had visited, she had become fixated on the rise and fall of his chest. Her breath held at each inhalation of air his body took until an exhalation followed, so afraid those breaths would stop altogether like they had twice before and kill something inside her at the same time.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out those chains that were like a second skin to him. And whether it was ridiculous or not, she put them around her own neck. Then she reached out and slipped one of his hands inside both of hers and held on, letting her fingers occasionally rub into the skin above his wrist.

"So," she said, clearing her throat of the residual emotion that seemed to want to block her vocal chords. "I think your mom and Dr. Webber might have a thing going. You need to wake up so you can see them together. It's kind of funny. And Olivia's been really great. I think she's singlehandedly kept me from going insane even though she's a lot more upset than she's letting on. It's not nice to make your mom worry so much about her only son. So you need to wake up."

She lifted his hand so she could intertwine the fingers of one of her hands around his while she stretched enough for her other hand to lightly touch his dry lips. "And you should see all the cops camped out in the waiting room. They have work to do you know. So you need to wake up so they can get back to it."

She brought their joined hands to her lips so she could brush a light kiss against his knuckles. "But really, you need to wake up for me. Because I don't know what to do without you anymore. I need you. And I'm really pissed off that you made me fall in love with you so fast."

And so hard, she added silently. She thought she saw his eye twitch but when she kept her eyes planted on his for the next several moments, she saw nothing. When those eyes opened, would there still be same man underneath? The same Dante? Her Dante?

"You still need to take me on a real date. In public. Don't think I'm going to let you get out of that one. That living room 'date' will be hard to match though." She let a smile tilt her lips as she flashed back to that night. It was so easy being with him. Easy to smile, easy to laugh, easy to be happy. Impossible to forget. And now, impossible not to love.

"And what scares me is I know I'll never feel about anyone else the way I feel about you." No one would ever come close to touching her the way he did, both physically and emotionally. "So if you die on me, I'll haunt you for the rest of your afterlife."

She cursed the tears she felt filling her eyes. Couldn't stop the one that dropped onto their hands. "And I'm sorry." Her voice wavered. "I'm so sorry. I hate myself for being the reason you're lying here, and I won't forgive myself if anything happens to you." She wept softly, quietly. "Please, Dante. Please wake up."

She remained silent for the next several minutes as she pressed their hands against her forehead. Her breath wheezed out when she thought she felt his fingers squeeze hers almost imperceptibly. Had she imagined it?

Her head popped up when the alarm for the machine sounded, the reading for his blood pressure flashing.

"Dante?" Fear coursed through her as she looked at the numbers. They were high. Too high.

His eyes suddenly flew open and he seemed to stare right through her. Shaken, her sweaty palms loosened their grip on his hand while his grip only tightened.

The machine continued to beep while her heart continued to pound. "Dante?" she questioned again.

"Lu…" He gasped out, the sound raspy. "Lulu."

She saw beads of sweat form on his forehead and heard the door to the room swing open from behind her as Epiphany and Dr. Webber rushed to the bed.

"Lulu." This time the word was more like a shout. "Where…." His eyes moved back and forth almost wildly. "Lulu….okay?"

"I'm right here. Dante, I'm okay."

"He's hypertensive," she heard Epiphany say. She turned to Lulu. "You need to step out. We have to get him stabilized."

She felt Dante's hand slip out of hers just like she felt the blood drain from her face. "What's going on? Is he okay?"

But they were too focused working on Dante to answer her. In a shocked haze, she forced herself to grab her crutches and rise shakily to her good foot, not even sure how her trembling arms managed to carry her from the room.

* * *

He was pulling away from her.

She felt it. She saw it. And each pull was an even more painful tug to her heart.

It had been five days since the scare in his hospital room. Five days since he had first woken up.

They had to sedate him that day after giving him medicine to bring his blood pressure back down to prevent further trauma to his body and potentially more internal injuries.

When he had woken up the second time four days ago, both Olivia and Lulu had been in the room. His voice had been weak and his face had looked confused at times, but he appeared to remember what happened. He demanded to know Lulu was okay and didn't at first seem to believe she was standing right in front of him until he had grabbed her hand in his almost painfully and ran his fingertips over her face. Then he had sighed and immediately fell back to sleep.

Dr. Webber had assured them that all signs indicated that there were no neurological issues present. He also said that they should expect Dante to sleep often with the amount of medications they had him on to control the pain and keep him comfortable. Even so, there were times when he was asleep where his face seemed to flinch as if he was hurting and it made her hurt to even look at him. But she couldn't look away either.

Then there were times when he was awake where his teeth and fists would clench together, but he refused to admit to the pain.

Three days ago, he had been downgraded to serious condition. It was also the first day she really noticed the walls he started building. She had bent down to kiss his cheek, and in one of his more lucid moments, his hand had reached out to cup her face, and his thumb ran along underneath the cut and stitches on her cheek. His eyes had narrowed. _"What did he do to you?"_ he had demanded in a deceptively calm voice. _"It's not important,"_ she had responded.

And then he saw the crutches.

His face had hardened and he looked like he wanted to murder someone. Or one someone anyway. "_What the fuck did he do to you?"_ She had grabbed the crutches and responded only _"I'm okay. I love you. And that's all that matters"_ before leaving the room to keep from being interrogated and to cause any further stress to the tenuous progress he had made so far.

Each day since until this moment now when she stood at the side of his bed, crutches under her arm, he had grown quieter. He wasn't cruel. No, that probably would have been easier for her to handle than him shutting her out, withdrawing to somewhere inside of himself he wouldn't allow her to go. The eye contact he made was limited and brief. It hurt. Olivia had warned her about this just as much as she had feared it. She'd be blind not to notice the guilt that radiated off him. It was the same guilt she had felt for just over a week now. But the couple of times she had tried to bring up the subject, to tell him that it wasn't his fault, he had shut down even more. And it was tearing her up inside that she didn't know how to break through.

"Olivia told me on my way in that Dr. Webber was here a little while ago. What'd he say?"

* * *

Six to eight weeks.

That's what he said. Six to eight weeks until he'd be able to start getting back to some semblance of his former self. Until he could work himself up to being a passable excuse for a man again. Physically anyway.

He stole a quick glance at Lulu. "He said I'm fine."

He drank in the sight of her for two short seconds before he looked away. Because to look at her was both heaven and hell. A reminder of everything right in the world, of a woman who seemed to love him unconditionally, a woman who was permanently secured to his heart. A reminder of what a fucking failure he was.

She had brought him out of that dark abyss, what was it now, five days ago? He couldn't remember. The days all blended into one long period of misery. He had heard her voice reaching out to him, felt the touch of her hands around him. But it had been muddled with the moments of pain and fear he felt after he had been shot and the desperation he remembered feeling to get to Lulu to make sure she was okay.

But he didn't get there.

And she had paid for it.

As would he.

He knew exactly what happened to her. He had forced Ronnie to tell him everything yesterday when Lucky had refused to. The bastard had fucking cut her. Had dared to put a knife against her skin and draw blood. He had terrorized her, broken her foot. If he could walk, he would have tracked down that sick freak to wherever they had him and choked the life out of him. One of his hands fisted in the sheet as he imagined what excruciating pain she had to have felt. The pain she still had to be feeling now. Yet all she had seemed to want to do was take care of _him_ and worry about _him_. Who would take care of _her_? He sure as hell couldn't. Not like this.

He brought his face back up to hers again, forced it to stay there this time. "Show me the other cut."

Her mouth parted as she looked back at him in surprise, her eyebrows furrowed together. "No."

"I know what he did. Let me see it."

_Give me another reason to hate myself._

"No," she said again, this time anger creeping into her voice. "You're just looking for yet more thing to blame yourself for."

He bit the inside of his lip, hating that she could read him so easily.

"Dante. None of this is your fault."

_Right._

It wasn't the first time she had said that to him over the past few days. If he gave her a chance, it wouldn't be the last.

He glanced down to her neck, saw his chains lying against her delicate skin and felt a strange twinge in his chest. She must have seen where his gaze had wandered because one of her hands lifted to take them off.

"Oh. I meant to give these to you –"

"Keep them," he said gruffly.

Her hand seemed to falter a little before dropping back down to the crutches.

"Dante. Please. Please don't push me away."

He struggled to swallow. "You should go get some rest."

Silence. Then, "You want me to leave?"

_No._

"You should go home."

She let out a slow breath, and he saw the hurt cross over her face, told himself he deserved the stabbing pain to his heart.

"I don't even know where that is anymore," she said, her voice sad.

_With me_, everything inside him screamed. But instead he remained silent as she turned on her crutches and started moving towards the door.

"Lulu." His voice cracked, not from anything physical but from absolutely everything emotional. She turned around slowly.

_Don't go._

"I love you. You have to know that. I need you to know that. I'd have given my life in an instant if it meant he wouldn't have hurt you."

She stayed quiet for several moments and stared at him with those eyes that saw too much. "The cuts? The foot?" She shook her head. "That's not what's hurting me right now."

She turned back around and disappeared out the door. He closed his eyes and felt the splash of a tear on his cheek.

* * *

She couldn't sleep at all last night. She kept replaying every moment of her conversation with Dante yesterday in her head. It felt like he was slipping away. She had to try to get through to him before it was too late. To make him understand he had to stop punishing himself for something he didn't cause. She had slept in her apartment ever since Dante had been in the hospital. It was too hard to be at his place right now, and Dante didn't want her to sleep at the hospital.

Maxie had called her a little bit ago to say that she would be back home tonight, and Lulu was relieved because she desperately needed someone to talk to. But for now, she had to go talk some sense into Dante.

When she pulled open the door to the apartment, she was surprised to see Lucky, his hand raised like he was getting ready to knock.

"Hey," she said. "I was just going to go the hospital."

A weird look passed over her brother's face. "He's not there," he finally said after a long pause.

She felt a kick to her gut. "What do you mean, he's not there?" She could feel a knot twisting in her stomach. "He's not….I just saw him…"

Lucky shook his head. "No, he's not dead. But I'll kill him if I see him again."

She ignored the last comment. "What –"

"He called Mac last night and requested a leave of absence. He apparently checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice."

"No," she denied. "That's not even possible. He can't even move yet."

"All I was told was that he arranged for medical transportation back to Bensonhurst yesterday, and Dr. Webber was not too happy about it."

"No," she said again. "He wouldn't do that." But as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized that was exactly what he would do. Was that parting comment of his yesterday a goodbye? That single knot in her stomach seemed to multiply. "Um…thank you for letting me know," she said stiffly.

"Lulu..."

"I want to be alone right now."

He shook his head. "That's the last thing you need."

"Lucky. Please."

He wanted to protest. She could see it in his face, by the slight step he took forward. But finally, he sighed and backed off. "I'll leave. But you need to promise to call me later."

She didn't respond, only nodded.

After he left, she slowly made her way to the couch and lowered herself to the cushions. Her hand trembled when she lifted her phone from her pocket. She dialed Dante's number and was unsurprised when it went to voicemail. She dialed Olivia's number next and she answered on the second ring.

"Is he okay?" she asked without preamble.

"He's not okay on a lot of levels," Olivia responded, her voice stressed. "Lulu, I tried to talk him out of it."

"I'm sure you did." Numbness started to settle in most of her body. Why couldn't it just settle in her heart? "He's a coward."

"Honey, let me try to talk to him again. But please don't give up on him. He loves you."

"I know he does." That's what made it worse. "But maybe that's not enough."

She hung up before Olivia could say anything else. Gathering a nearby pillow close to her chest, she laid her head down against the couch, closed her eyes, and cried.

* * *

Note:

Okay, before I have to start ducking at any flying objects, I really _really _debated posting this at all with all the shiz we got this week from GH. I'm sorry for the angst in this one. It's bad timing I know, but I felt it was in character for this to happen with the way things have progressed so far. The sooner I got this one done, the sooner I can move on to writing the last chapter. I will promise that I believe in two things: 1.) Never killing off either of our lovelies, and 2.) an HEA - always. So I hope my last chapter will make up for the angst of this one. Please don't hate me and please bear with me and trust me with where this is going. Oh and Brenda and Guza can die an agonizingly slow death :)


	28. Chapter 28

Note:

Still so overwhelmed by the comments. You guys rock! Last chapter is finally here. A couple of you know I had originally planned a sexilogue, er, epilogue ;) …and know why I scratched it…reformulated the plans for this last chapter in my head and I actually think this ends up working out much better. I think I'm happy with the way it turned out (though I'm sure it could be a lot better). It's long (sorry) but I just hope you all are pleased with it and that it lives up to your expectations. Thank you again! And a special thanks and shout out to all my Lanteland ladies! :) (thanks Lori for creating our safe haven! You're awesome) ...and of course a dedication to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story so far :)

* * *

**Chapter 28**

_Seven weeks later_

He always thought the idea of soul-searching was a cliché. A joke. What answers were you supposed to find in something you couldn't see, couldn't taste, couldn't touch, couldn't feel?

But every day for the past fifty-three of them, he looked inside of himself and always came up with only one answer. One motivation.

Her.

Lulu.

He sighed. She had been one woman in an admittedly long line of them. Yet, somehow along the way, she had become the _only_ one.

The past seven weeks had been a physical, mental, and emotional hell. Leaving Lulu behind that day had killed something inside of him. Had almost killed him physically again when he came down with peritonitis. Inflammation around the membrane that covered part of his abdomen, he was told. Likely brought on by infection. Likely as a result from the stress of travel on his compromised body and abdominal region.

His temperature had gone dangerously high, he had required yet another surgery, and he had to have intense rounds of antibiotics thrown into his already heavily medicated system.

When he had come to, it was his mother who wanted to kill him.

"_You need to be with Lulu."  
"You need to call Lulu."  
"I'll call Lulu and tell her to come up here."  
"You're being selfish."  
"If you weren't lying in that hospital bed, I'd slap you upside the head."_

He'd heard that and much, much more from Olivia Falconeri over the past several weeks. But in the end, he had made her swear not to bring Lulu to Bensonhurst. Made her swear not to tell Lulu about his latest medical scare, that if she ended up talking to Lulu at all, she needed to just tell her that he was doing fine. And encourage her to move on. His mother had let off an impressive stream of curses in Italian, and every time she looked at him after that, he could see the disappointment in her face. At him. One more person he let down.

Perhaps it _was_ selfish of him, he acknowledged internally on more than one occasion. But the last thing Lulu needed to do was see him like that. He had been angry, depressed, mean, broody, and a whole lot more. His emotions had been a dark cloud that had taken up residence inside him.

He would have hurt her. Not physically. Never physically. But what he could have done to her emotionally would have destroyed them both forever. And he just couldn't bear hurting Lulu.

_You did hurt her. Badly._

Yeah, that had been a constant reminder in his head. That scene from the hospital was on autoplay. He hated being the one to put that look on her face – the sadness, the vulnerability, the pain. It cut into his heart and left it bleeding. It still bled all these weeks later.

He had nightmares almost every night. Reliving the moments he was shot. Even though he wasn't there in his living room with Lulu while Bennett terrorized her, his nightmares delivered hell in graphic images of what he knew was done to her. More nights than not, he had woken up with a racing heart and in a cold sweat. And also in a murderous rage.

He had taken that rage out by enduring the daily grueling physical therapy sessions he had to go through, pushing himself beyond what his doctors wanted, all the while knowing he risked his recovery and his sanity. But he needed to prove himself, needed to get back on his feet. And holy hell, it had hurt like a _sonofabitch_. He told himself he deserved it. It still wasn't enough. He wasn't sure it would ever be enough.

It had been humiliating that taking two small steps a few weeks ago had reduced him to a weak, sweaty mess. Eventually a few steps had turned into a few more and then more still, and he was now to the point he could walk around without feeling like he was going to collapse. He still felt twinges in his abdomen and his shoulder, and he found himself almost perversely welcoming and needing the pain – as yet another reminder. The workouts at the gym he was used to and the daily grind of police work would be awhile coming yet. It would be desk duty for him for the near future – _if_ Mac let him come back at all.

And then there was her. Again. It always came back to her. She probably hated him, and he didn't blame her. What had been the only decision he could have possibly made at the time by walking away, what he felt was the right thing to do and what he still felt was the right thing to do, was ironically one of the biggest mistakes he ever made at the same time.

He missed her. He missed how he felt when he was with her. He missed seeing her smile. He missed hearing her laugh. He missed everything about her. He had wondered if his feelings for her would lessen at all being apart from her for what now seemed like years, but if anything, they only intensified. How was that even possible? Three months ago he didn't know who she was. The cynical, rational part of his mind told himself that you couldn't fall in love with someone in that short amount of time. What in the hell did he know about love anyway? Except of course how to screw it up. But he did love her. So goddamn much it hurt.

He had somehow gone from strings of meaningless sex to needing one woman more than breath. If he was being honest with himself, a part of him knew Lulu was different from the start even if he had a hard time defining how. What she made him feel had scared him shitless, but he knew a life without her would be an empty one and a cold one.

So it came back to his soul. To her. He could no longer separate the two.

It wasn't fair of him to send her a message to move on when he certainly hadn't. Couldn't. When he knew it would kill him if Lulu ever shared herself in the same way she had with him with any other man. He also knew it was unfair and cowardly to reach out to her in the way he had been. But he needed even the smallest amount of contact. Just like he had known he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had gone to her half a man, which is what he had felt like for past seven weeks.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone.

* * *

Lulu looked down at her phone and then at her watch.

4:52pm.

In exactly eight minutes, it would ring. Just like it had every Wednesday at 5:00pm for the past six weeks. And she would answer it. Just like she had every Wednesday at 5:00pm for the past six weeks. And then there would be approximately sixty seconds of silence before she hung up the phone at 5:01pm.

Oh, she hadn't known it was him, not that first week, when she hung up almost right away after her "Hello?" had gone unanswered. But she never received calls like that on her phone and few people knew her number so when a second one came a week later, she had stayed on the line. Even though the caller ID had flashed "Unknown", she knew it was him. That knowledge was solidified further when she had spoken _"Dante?"_ quietly into the phone and heard a slight hitching of breath before it evened out. Call her crazy but she would know that breathing anywhere since she had spent days fixating on it when he had been in the hospital.

She had hung up disappointed. That week and every week following. Her heart clung to those moments when she had wished and hoped those breaths would turn into words. Words that never came.

She closed her eyes as she remembered the call she got from Olivia the day before the first phone call came, almost a week after Dante left Port Charles.

"_How is he?" she asked._

"_Okay." That one word came after a long pause that had Lulu guessing Dante was a lot less than okay._

"_You may as well just get it over with. Whatever you're hesitating to say."_

"_He wanted me to pass on a message," Olivia finally responded. "And I'm going to do it and also tell you that he doesn't mean it. I can see it on his face that he doesn't mean it."_

_Dread filled her. "What?" she asked._

"_He said you should move on."_

"_Move on?" she repeated as if she didn't understand the words._

"_Lulu, you're both hurting. I don't agree with what my son did, and I'd make sure he was in a world of hurt for some of the decisions he's made lately if he wasn't already there as it is, but he loves you. So much. But I don't think he knows how to _be _in love yet. What it means."_

_Lulu struggled to come up with what to say before settling on, "It means not walking away."_

"_Lulu—"_

"_Can you do me a favor?" Lulu cut her off._

"_Anything."_

"_Unless Dante suddenly takes a turn for the worse…can you stop calling?"_

"_I…" Olivia began and then her voice cut off abruptly. "If that's what you want."_

_It was hard to miss the hurt in that response, and no, that wasn't what she wanted. But it was what she needed. _

So _why_ then if Dante wanted her to move on did his phone calls start the next day? And why did she foolishly keep answering them, waiting for them, even needing them on some level? How could she sit there and just listen to his breathing, as if that was enough for her? She was an idiot. And it _wasn't _enough.

Seven weeks and four days was a long time. A long time for anger and resentment to fester, and she had started to feel those things in waves.

Physically, her bones had healed themselves. She was back to walking normally and on her own and only felt residual pain if she was on her foot for too long. The scars were still noticeable, but those would fade in time. Her heart though, that had remained broken. There were times she had to remind herself to eat and days she didn't even want to get out of bed. She couldn't focus on writing and had already missed a second deadline extension from the publisher. She had cut ties with Michael, and she hadn't even been able to do that in person because she didn't want to be anywhere near him. Of course, that meant dealing with the publisher herself until she found another agent, and she could tell they were starting to get impatient.

Maxie seemed to rotate between giving her pep talks and a shoulder to cry on and then scolding her for sulking, hardly leaving the apartment and not maintaining "appearances." She looked down at herself and barely held in a self-deprecating laugh. Sweatpants and an old wrinkled t-shirt. And she didn't even give a damn. At least she had showered.

The phone rang and she let out a sigh. 5:00pm. Right on time.

And enough was enough.

She hit the talk button and brought the phone up to her ear. "Listen, you miserable son of a –"

"Open the door."

Her breath released in a gush of air as that voice slammed into her like a freight train.

No.

No way.

The phone dropped from her hand as her head turned towards the door. He couldn't be here. A sense of déjà vu hit her as she remembered the last time he said those words.

There was no way she was opening that door. She didn't want to see him.

So why did her feet carry her over to the door? Why did her hands pull it open? Why did her heart seem to do a flip-flop in her chest the moment her eyes settled on him?

He held no flowers in his hand this time. No burgers from Kelly's or ice cream. Her hand tightened around the door knob when his eyes looked into hers. He had his thumbs tucked into the front pockets of his jeans.

"Hi," he said, his voice low and hesitant.

She opened her mouth but nothing came out so she closed it again. Couldn't do anything but stare at him for at least the next minute before she finally found her voice.

"You look like hell."

He had lost some weight. He was wearing the same black t-shirt she had seen him in before, and it was looser on him. Even his jeans didn't cling as snugly to his hips as they had before. She didn't want to notice the fatigue that shadowed his face and those expressive brown eyes because it tugged at something inside of her she had hoped would remain unaffected. Damn it, she_ cared_. And she didn't want to. Stubble from what looked like a few days growth dusted along his jaw line, chin, above his mouth. The hair that fell in disheveled layers around his head looked to be a little longer. He _did_ look like hell, but he still managed to look sexy too, and she cursed her traitorous body for responding.

He ignored her comment. "Can I come in?"

_No_. That's what she wanted to respond. She was safer with him on the other side of the door. That word was on the tip of her tongue ready to slip out but a flash of desperation in his eyes chipped away at her resolve. Against her better judgment, she released the death grip she had on the doorknob and moved aside until he stepped into her apartment.

After closing the door, she took a deep breath and turned around to face him, finding him just about a foot away from her. He was looking at her with such intensity it shook her. She used to crave having him look at her that way. Now, it was a little too close for comfort. Too much. She walked past him to put some distance between them and stood behind the couch. She felt his eyes on her the whole time.

"How are you?" he asked.

She lifted her eyebrows. "Why do you care?"

"I've always cared."

"Right." She shook her head. "Wait here."

She left him standing in the living room while she retreated to her bedroom, went to grab what she had gone in there for and returned to the other room. Dante was standing in the same spot, his palms rubbing against the fabric of his jeans along his upper thighs once, twice. She walked over to him, keeping a good arm's length distance away from him and held out his chains. He didn't need to know she had stupidly slept with them underneath her pillow every night.

He stared down at them and then back up at her. "I didn't come here for those."

She forced them into his hand, doing her best to limit direct contact with his skin but still felt the jolt when her fingers lightly brushed against his, their indrawn breaths perfectly in unison. She stepped back away from him immediately, crossing her arms over her chest protectively, as if it would keep him from the heart he already had way too much power over, the heart she feared was permanently branded by him.

"That's all you're going to get from me."

"Lulu." His voice was pained. She tried to block it out. "Please."

"Okay," she said after a pause. "Okay. Let me ask you a question. Then maybe I'll hear whatever it is you came here to say." She took another breath. "Would you do it again? Rewind back fifty-three days. Would you still leave?"

His jaw set, his mouth formed a hard line. And she knew the answer before the word even left his mouth. "Yes," he said stiffly.

She closed her eyes and mentally counted to five. When that didn't ease the fresh pain spreading through her, she counted to ten. It didn't work. Nothing seemed to work. She forced her eyes back open. "Then we're done here. You should leave. You're good at that."

She could tell her comment stung, but damn it, why should she care about hurting his feelings when he's the one who'd been writing the book on that lately? She crossed the room and opened the door, turned back to him expectantly. When he started to walk over to where she stood, she tried to emotionally brace herself for his second exit from her life.

But he didn't walk out the door.

He closed it.

Oh, God. She couldn't handle this right now. When his hand lifted to reach for hers, she jerked it back. "Don't touch me." Words she had meant to come out forcefully instead came out in a near whisper.

His hand dropped while his other hand slipped the chains he was still holding into his pocket. "I know you hate me."

"I want to," she admitted. "You have no idea how much I want to."

He nodded. "I'm sorry, Lulu." He looked beaten down, his eyes haunted.

"Sorry isn't enough. Not when you stood there and admitted you'd do the same thing again. Now, please," she said. "Please just go." _Go before I beg you not to._

"I don't know how to be without you anymore. I don't want to."

Sincerity laced his voice, her heart took another tumble, and good Lord, could the world really be this cruel? "Really? This is some revelation you've had some seven weeks later?"

"No." He shook his head. "I've known that for a long time now."

Did he _not_ understand that made it worse? She felt her eyes start to water, and she tried to battle back the tears with the anger that clawed for equal attention. "I see." She let out one small laugh that was completely void of all humor. "I'm good enough to fuck but not good enough to trust."

He flinched, his head jerking back slightly like she had hit him. And then he just looked angry. "It's not like that. It was never like that."

"It's _exactly_ like that," she bit back. "You walked out on me, on us, because you didn't trust me."

His eyes narrowed and he blew out a breath. "You don't get it at all."

"Oh no," she said bitterly. "Believe me, I get it. I'm not an idiot." She paused. "Actually, I take that back. I've been an idiot about a lot of things lately. But not about this." She stared him straight in the eyes. "What happened to me is all your fault."

She chose her words deliberately, to make a point. If it could be shown in a picture the feeling of having your chest ripped open and every emotion, every wound, every vulnerability inside exposed for the world to see, it would be the one on Dante's face at that moment. "You don't think I know that?" he whispered brokenly.

She wiped furiously at some tears that had leaked from her lids. "You stubborn ass," she said shakily. "I _know_ that's what you think. It's not what _I_ think." She pressed a finger against her chest in emphasis. "It was _never_ what I thought."

She saw him swallow, saw his struggle continue brewing across every feature on his face. He took a step forward. She took a step back. It would be so easy, she thought. So easy to fall back in those arms. But not like this. "You hurt me. After telling me more than once you never would, you hurt me worse than anyone else ever could. I trusted you. That was my mistake. But walking away like a coward? That was yours."

"I had to."

She looked at him in disbelief. "You had to? You didn't have to. You chose to." His face had started to harden and she knew this was going nowhere. "Or maybe you just wanted to. Maybe this _was_ just sex and the rest was just too complicated. Sex without strings, isn't that what you said you were used to? Maybe you saw the out and you took it."

She didn't share that for more than a few dark moments these past several weeks, she had feared that was the case. She could actually see the muscles in his jaw working. "Bullshit," he practically spat. "I love you, Lulu. Those words were never a lie. The feelings were never a lie."

"Feelings fade." She shrugged, knowing full well that hers hadn't. "It's not like we knew each other for very long. We got caught up in the moment. Now it's over. Move on. Isn't that the message you had your mom pass on to me? Well, it's almost been two months, Dante, and that's a long time. Maybe that's exactly what I've done. Maybe I've moved on to someone I know won't push me away when things get a little rough." That lie felt like acid against her tongue. Moving on with anyone else would be the last thing she'd ever be able to do.

He blinked. Hurt mixed with something a lot more dangerous reflected in those dark eyes. "No other man will ever put his hands on you."

Said at another time, the possessiveness in his face, in those words, would have turned her on. And maybe somewhere deep inside she felt a stirring of…something…from that statement, she admitted to herself. But being pissed off won this battle. "You don't get to say that to me. You can just take off your caveman hat right now. And while you're at it, you can go to hell too."

She was so damn tired. Of all of this. Because her foot was starting to get sore, she walked over to the couch and sat down against the arm of it, still facing him where he stood by the door. She saw his eyes move down to her foot and then back up, as if he knew. And that irritated her. The shadows on his face became even more pronounced.

"I've been there. I wasn't taking you with me."

She scoffed. "How noble of you." Sighing, she shook her head. "Okay, I'll play along for another minute. Just so I have this straight. You want to be with me, but for however long we would end up staying together, you'd be carrying that damn badge of guilt around you the whole time. Do I have it right?"

His teeth moved over his bottom lip in response.

She nodded. "That's not fair to either one of us."

He walked over closer to her but there was still about three feet of space between them. It may as well have been a mile emotionally.

"I can't close my eyes without seeing images of you cut and bleeding in my head. Screaming in pain. And every single goddamn time I'm right there watching it happen and can't do anything to stop it." He paced back and forth a couple of times, ran a hand that appeared to be shaking through his hair. "I was supposed to protect you. I failed at my job, and more than that, I failed you."

"It's not your fault!" She rose to her feet again, pushing aside the discomfort, and walked over to him until she was standing less than a foot away. "How many times do I have to say that until you believe it? And what about me?" she continued, her voice still raised. "Don't you think I know how you feel? How many times I've thought to myself that you wouldn't have ended up in that hospital if it wasn't for me? You technically _died _because of me and I had to face that guilt alone, you bastard." Her words wavered from the emotion constricting around her throat. "I have my own nightmares too, and in each one, you end up dead and I always feel I may as well be too. It shouldn't be like that. I didn't die. You're still breathing."

"What happened to me and to you is on _me_, Lulu. Not you," he insisted.

Her hands itched to shove him in the chest at his stubbornness. Instead she clenched her fists. "We're just going in circles here. I think we're done," she said tiredly.

"Goddamnit, Lulu!" Now it was he who raised his voice. "How many times did I stand in front of you and promise that I would protect you? How many times did I swear that that fucking freak wouldn't touch you again? How many times did I tell you that you'd be safe with me? He got to you in my place, under my goddamn roof, and I wasn't even there for you."

"No, you weren't there, because you were laying outside somewhere bleeding to death!" she snapped, her mind flashing back to those most terrifying moments of her life. "Contrary to what you may believe, the weight of the world and the lives of everyone in it do not lie on your shoulders. You're not responsible for the actions of other people." Standing so close to him, she literally felt the tension radiating off of him. His pupils seemed as unsettled as his body as they searched her face almost wildly and she fought the urge to shrink away. She made herself continue. "Don't you understand? _You're_ the reason I'm not dead right now. You, Dante. I was able to fight back twice against Josh because you showed me how. You're the reason I was able to get to that gun and know how to fire it without panicking. All I wanted to do was get to you and know that you were okay, that he didn't kill you like he told me he did. If he came after me before I had met you, I would have been frozen in terror and he _would_ have killed me. I saved myself, but you were with me the whole time and the reason I was able to at all."

She found herself out of breath, felt more tears gliding down her face. How many had she cried over this man? She saw his hand lift and approach her face, and she didn't have the energy to fight it as he laid his palm against her cheek, his thumb brushing away some of the tears and ever so lightly touching her scar. He was visibly upset as he stared at it and her eyes silently pleaded with his to let it go. Warmth infused her skin at his touch, and yet it only made her want to cry more.

"Do you remember what I told you that morning?" he asked, his voice gentling as his hand fell away, leaving her suddenly cold. "I told you I didn't want to let you down. I was scared of screwing things up with you. You told me—"

"I told you that you couldn't let me down," she finished, remembering absolutely everything about that morning and the night before when he finally told her he loved her. "You didn't let me down that day, Dante. You only did that by leaving."

His face was troubled as he appeared to study her. "I wanted to kill him," he admitted. "Every day. I still want that. I want him to suffer and feel so much pain, he'd beg for death. What the fuck does that make me?"

"It makes you human like the rest of us. You don't think I haven't wished that the shot I fired _had _killed him? If it came to that, if you had the chance to kill him, you wouldn't unless you were forced to."

He looked surprised by that.

"Oh, I have no doubt you wouldn't make him hurt worse than he's ever hurt before," she continued. "But you wouldn't be the one to end his life. You're not a murderer."

He sighed heavily. "But I _am_ a cop, Lulu. And I got too focused on the wrong Bennett that the guilty one slipped right underneath me."

"Nothing pointed to him."

"It was my job to dig deeper."

"I'm not going to stand here and keep listening to you beating yourself up. And if you keep doing it, it'll bury you alive," she warned.

"I'm sorry," he choked out on a sudden burst of emotion. "I don't want to keep hurting you."

She felt the hooks sinking into her heart, could feel herself getting reigned in further. "Why?" she couldn't resist asking. "Why are you just coming to me now after almost two months?"

She didn't think he was going to answer until some long moments later when he finally spoke. "I was in a bad place. The worst place. There wasn't a single person I didn't lash out at. I was angry and hurting and determined to make everyone around me as miserable as I was. I could hardly move. Jesus Christ, Lulu, the first time I took a couple steps I had to sleep for a couple hours afterwards just to recover. You couldn't see me like that. And I think it really would have killed me if I would have hurt you any more than I already did."

She could feel the anger she thought had drained out of her slowly start to build back up. "That's where the trust comes in," she said, trying to force patience into her voice. "You've told me you love me."

"I do love you. So much it freaks me out." The words were immediate, and she didn't doubt them.

"I was honest with you when I said I haven't been in love with anyone else," she began. "But I think to love someone, you have to trust them to see you, to _really_ see you. All or nothing. You don't get to pick and choose what pieces of yourself you want to share with me, Dante. Whether I was with you or not these past few weeks should have been _my_ choice. You took that away from me. And for the record? I wouldn't have left your side."

The breath that came out of his mouth was deep and shuddered and the next words he spoke were released in that same breath. "I don't know how to be in love."

It was exactly what Olivia had said. Lulu shrugged. "And I don't know where that leaves us," she said sadly.

"Please don't say it's over," he said quietly.

He was putting himself out on a limb. She realized that. As much as he was able to anyway. She sighed. "I think you've ruined me for anyone else." She paused. "I love you." It was both so simple and so complicated. "The way I feel for you, even after everything, I know I couldn't feel this way about another man. But you left," she said, her voice breaking on that last word. "You left, and I couldn't bear it if you did it again. I don't want to give you the chance to do it again," she admitted to him.

Several beats of silence stretched between them.

"All or nothing." He repeated her earlier words and continued before she could even respond. He suddenly looked nervous. "I've had a lot of time to do more than a lot of thinking. As suffocating as the past couple of months have been, as low as I fell, you were the only thing that kept me going. I know I hurt you and I'll live with that for the rest of my life. But I can't live without you. You're in here." He briefly gestured towards his heart and she felt hers start to pound and answer to the pull of his. "That was something I realized every single day I was away from you. And there were four other things I realized every single day."

He reached down and wrapped one of his hands around one of hers, letting his fingers move over hers. She became momentarily distracted by the pulses of heat that streamed up her arm into the rest of her body. "What was the first one?" she asked softly, letting herself get a little more lost in his eyes, whether foolishly or not.

"That I don't deserve you."

Not this again. She couldn't do this again. She tried to pull her hand away in frustration, but he only held on tighter. She averted her eyes from looking at him to keep from being sucked deeper into the disappointment that was starting to well inside her.

"The second one was that you make me want to be a better man. To be the only one that deserves you."

She did stare back at him then. How could somebody so smart be so clueless? "You were. You should have realized _that_ instead."

"The third," he continued, ignoring her comment. "You are absolutely everything I never knew I wanted. And somewhere along the way you became the only thing I need."

She heard the slow release of air from her mouth. "Damn you," she breathed, because just like that she was under his spell again. "And the fourth?" She had to concentrate to get the words out.

"That you will never be a for now kind of woman to me."

Her pulse spiked. The way his thumb was now rubbing along her wrist, she knew he had to have felt it. She remembered when he had last used those words, when she questioned him on why his relationships had been so short-lived.

"_I wasn't going to commit to a _for now_ kind of woman."_

Everything inside her tightened. So many times before she had dreamed and longed to hear words like that coming out of his mouth. But even in her most vivid imagination, the words never came out this...perfect. Not just the words, but the way he said them. Like he was both unsure of himself but confident in what he was saying. Confident in what he was feeling. But was it enough? she asked herself. Was she willing to put everything out there again for him knowing that if he hurt her again she wasn't sure she'd be able to recover?

With his other hand, he fished into his pocket, came out with something held between his thumb and index finger that knocked the air right out of her lungs and sent her reeling.

No way.

No fucking way.

"What in the hell is that?" She cringed when the words came out like a squeak.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. "It's a ring."

She felt each painful thud of her heart as it seemed to try to breach her chest cavity. "I know what it is." She shook her head to clear her muddled thoughts. "What in the hell are you doing with it?"

"My grandfather passed away last year," he said. "After he died, my Nona…my grandmother," he clarified, though she knew what the word meant, "she gave this to me and told me to give it to the woman I love. I laughed at her at the time. Told her that wasn't going to happen. She patted me on the cheek and said _'You'll see.'_" He released a small breath. "I see now, Lulu. I see _you_."

_Oh God, oh God, oh God._ She tried to blink through the tears that clouded her vision. She stared down at the ring. The band was a simple white gold. The band separated into two threaded pieces of metal at the top where a small rounded diamond set in place, the gaps where the band had divided held two smaller diamonds embedded on each side of the main one. There was nothing extravagant about it. And it was the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen.

With wide eyes and slightly parted lips, she glanced up at Dante and felt staggered by not only the emotions she was feeling but the ones shining back at her through his eyes. Her knees suddenly felt weak and the hand he still held in his felt clammy. _Why couldn't she say anything? _

"It's crazy," he continued. "I know it's crazy. And I'm not asking you to marry me tomorrow or next month or even next year. I'm asking if you'll marry me _someday_. I'm asking if you'll wear this and believe that I want forever with you. Because I do. I so fucking do."

She let out one small laugh through her tears. He would add that to the end, she thought. It was so _him_. And she was hopelessly in love with him and all of his edges, rough and otherwise. The way he stared at her now was both completely scared to death and desperately hopeful.

"Please say something," he implored finally.

She drew a steadying breath that was anything but. And then with her free hand, she pulled back and punched him in the arm that hadn't been shot. "You jerk," she expelled on a sob.

He stumbled slightly, stared at her in shock, his mouth dropping open a little before those lips of his curved into a small smile. "You've been practicing."

She had hit him, pretty damn hard if she could say so herself, and he was standing there looking at her with pride in his eyes? Yes, without a doubt, she loved this man. She wanted to launch herself at him, to get lost in him and never come out. But there was still a nagging doubt in the back of her mind.

She unceremoniously sniffled. "Dante, I'm not sure you really understand everything I was trying to get through to you today. I –"

He squeezed her hand and then lowered his face to her cheek, kissing away a single tear before drawing back. "Lulu, I can't make my guilt go away overnight. Or the regrets of what I should have done differently. They're a part of me and have been for awhile. But I'll try. I swear for you I'll try. I want you to help me try."

She thought back to the earlier question she asked herself. _Was it enough?_ She had her answer when her eyes locked with his. _Yes_. Yes, it was enough.

And she had an answer for him.

"Dante Falconeri, yes, I will marry you someday." For the first time in a long time, the tears she cried were happy ones, and she saw one fall from his own eye before he pulled her into his arms and made everything right again.

"I love you." He pressed a kiss against the top of her head which she had buried below his neck as she clung to him.

Only once her heart rate settled back into a semi-normal state did she pull back, lean up, lay her palms against his face and sigh, "I love you, too."

Their lips met in the middle, settled back into a rhythm that wasn't forgotten and had in fact gotten deeper, meant even more. As his mouth moved against hers, she tasted her tears. Tasted his. And then she just let herself feel.

When he drew back, she felt him sliding the ring over the finger on her left hand. She held her breath the entire time. It was perfect. The ring and the fit. And so was he. She lifted her eyes back up to his. "Take me home."

His thumb was stroking over the ring. "This isn't home?"

She shook her head. "No," she whispered.

He kissed her again, lightly. "Okay, sweetheart."

* * *

His mouth covered hers immediately after they set foot in the elevator up to his loft. They both moaned at the contact. This kiss was completely unlike the slow, gentle build-up of the one at her apartment. This one was hungry, demanding, insistent and based on weeks of pent-up passion and maybe even a little residual anger too, Dante supposed, as Lulu pushed him back against the wall, grabbed the chains around his neck that she insisted he put back on on the way over here and pulled, forcing his lips even harder against her own. His cock swelled through his jeans and pushed against her lower belly. She made a harsh sound against his mouth as her hips thrust forward and grinded against his erection. Jesus God, he missed this with her almost as much as he missed her.

He felt her teeth bite down on his lower lip and he groaned, slanting his mouth over hers to regain control and pushing his tongue through her parted lips. Then he growled as he tasted the sweetness of her mouth, sweeping his tongue across her teeth, the insides of her cheeks, against her own tongue, everywhere it could possibly reach and it still wasn't enough of her. He doubted he could ever have enough of her. He knew her hands had tightened on his chains because he could feel a small bite of pain from the metal digging into the back of his neck. He didn't give one damn. Her hips undulated against him again when he started to suck at her tongue. The throaty sounds coming from her that he felt vibrating in his mouth alone could have probably made him come.

She released her grip on him and pulled her head back suddenly. "Are you sure you can do this?" she asked breathlessly.

He groaned from the loss and then shot her an insulted look. "I think you know by now I can do this," he replied impatiently.

She let out a strained laugh. "I mean, your injuri—"

"I'm fine," he cut her off. "I need you, Lulu."

She reached for him again and continued the kiss where it left off. This time her hands slid up his neck and fisted in his hair while his slid underneath her t-shirt and found her bra-less, thank you God, breasts. She moaned when his fingers tweaked her already hardened nipples.

The elevator doors slid open to his loft and their lips broke free from one another's as they turned their heads only momentarily before locking eyes again.

"I was going to go slow," he said while he breathed heavily against her lips, his hands still possessively curved around her breasts. "I was going to take my time and make love to you."

That was the plan he had in his head on the way over here.

"Later. Make love to me later." She reached down and unsnapped the button of his jeans, pulled down his zipper in one hard yank. "Fuck me now."

He wondered if she realized they both sometimes felt like the same thing with her. The words from her mouth were a plea and also a demand, and it was fucking sexy as hell. His cock thought so too as he could feel the moisture pooling at the tip as he looked down and saw it tented against his boxers through his unzipped fly. "Jesus, sweetheart, you're going to kill me."

Her eyes narrowed. "Too early to joke about that."

"Sorry," he muttered and then took her lips in a short, hard kiss.

When he went to lead her out of the elevator, she shook her head. "Now."

He lifted his eyebrows at her and then watched as she kicked off her shoes, her hands moving to her sweatpants next. He swiftly covered her hands with his and switched their positions until she was the one with her back against the elevator wall.

_Plans change_, he thought, as she looked at him with eyes that were smoky with desire and lips that were swollen from his kisses.

"Now," he agreed with another growl as he pulled the sweats and panties down her legs and she stepped out of them. He hoped to hell she was ready for him because the urge to take her was too raw to resist or draw out. With one hand, he reached down to grab his cock from his boxers, not bothering to discard of the clothing completely. As much as he wanted to pick her up and slam into her while her feet hung helplessly off the ground, he didn't want to risk it. So instead, with his other hand, he indulged in cupping her ass before sliding it down further to the back of her upper thigh. He hiked her leg up and brought it to his waist and she automatically curled it around him. He positioned himself at her entrance and thrust himself into the sweetest, hottest place he'd ever known.

He clenched his teeth and groaned. Her wetness surrounded him, and yeah, she was definitely ready. She was tighter than he remembered, her walls squeezing him so hard it already had sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Her nails dug into his shoulder, his t-shirt probably the only thing keeping his skin from being pierced. "Hard and fast," she gasped.

He could do hard and fast. No other choice anyway since he was probably less than thirty seconds away from exploding.

"Too fucking long." And with those words, he had withdrawn a few inches and then pistoned himself back inside of her, the force driving her hard against the wall. He heard her cry out, and it only drove him on, drove him harder and drove him deeper. He felt like a fumbling short-triggered teenager because after just a few thrusts, his balls tightened to an epically painful level.

"Going to come, baby," he grunted out and then because he needed to, he crashed his mouth down on top of hers and swallowed her moans. He felt his cock jerk inside of her with his release and dimly managed to thank God when he felt her walls milking him for all he was worth in her own shuddering climax.

He didn't know how much later it was when his forehead was lying against hers and they were still standing in the same place. His cock had slipped out of her but damned if he didn't already feel it hardening again.

She saw it too. "Seriously?" She took a breath. "You can go a little slower for the next round."

He chuckled softly and dipped his head to press a kiss against the slow, satisfied smile forming on her face.

* * *

He was taking his time alright, she thought more than forty-five minutes later when she was lying naked on the bed, the cool sheets beneath her back, his hot tongue running all over her sensitive skin. She still hadn't quite recovered from the elevator yet.

It had been difficult for both of them to set foot back into this place. She had hesitated before getting out of the elevator, had frozen about five steps inside. Dante had been noticeably upset as well and suggested they go back to her apartment. But she had refused, insisted that they both needed to get past this and instead work on creating new memories to block out the bad ones.

She thought this was a good place to start. Felt it more than thought it as he drove out the nightmares with gentle caresses, murmured words, and soulful kisses.

Long minutes earlier, when his eyes had settled on the scar on her breast, she saw the darkness in his eyes again, feared their progress would be shot backwards. She saw him fight with himself, knew he was beating himself up again, but she reached out with her hand and touched his cheek, whispered his name, and he came back to her. He kissed the scar tenderly and then did the same to her lips. Her heart could have floated right out of her chest.

Her mind catapulted back to the present when she heard herself moan while his tongue flicked over a taut nipple and then drew it into his mouth and suckled. His fingertips danced over her skin in teasing touches, slipped down lower and ran along her wet slit, barely penetrating, enough to drive her insane with need but not enough to force an orgasm. She had already come close more than once and each time he would drive her to brink and then leave her at the ledge.

His mouth finally abandoned their play with her nipples and then moved to her stomach, trailing wet kisses down to her belly button, over the curls between her legs, and then down further. She sucked in a breath and moaned deeply again when she felt his tongue dip inside, run along her labia, circle her clit, and then stab deep. She whimpered, her hips thrusting upwards against his invading yet magical mouth. One of her hands clenched the sheets while the other threaded through his hair, her fingertips pressing against his scalp. She could feel his stubble scratching against her skin and while it should have been uncomfortable, it instead felt strangely erotic.

He focused exclusively on her clit then, his tongue thrusting against it, slowly at first and then faster before slowing down again. Her breaths now came out as cries and her hand tightened in his hair.

"Please," she begged. "Dante. Please make me come."

And he did, his teeth scraping against the throbbing knot until she exploded against his waiting mouth as he lapped up and down her sex.

"I missed your taste," he said moments later when he brought his mouth back up to hers and kissed her. "I missed your smell. I missed the way you tremble beneath me, the way your breath catches when you come. The way you feel when I'm inside you. The way I feel when I'm so deep I become another part of you. I missed everything, Lulu." He placed a hand over her heart and she knew he could feel it beating. "I missed this so damn much."

It was a seduction with words and it worked. It always worked. She wanted him inside her again. Craved the feeling of being stretched around his length.

She rolled to the side away from him, then pushed at his shoulders until he was lying on his back. She knelt on the bed beside him and leaned down, kissing his forehead, and then his cheek, his chin, until finally moving to his lips and letting her tongue trace his mouth and then tangle with his when she entered through his waiting lips. She sighed in contentment as the build-up began anew.

She lowered her face to his left shoulder where the scar from his bullet wound was still raised and reddened. Her heart felt that familiar squeeze and she took a deep breath before lightly brushing her fingers against it and then her mouth. She felt the rush of his breath against her hair and his hand started to rub one of her arms.

She carefully straddled him and backed further down his body until she was staring at the even larger wound near his abdomen, the one that almost took her from him. It too was red and puckered and a single tear dropped from her eye.

"Lulu." There was pain in that one word. She felt the tension in his body and she forced a smile. Like she did his shoulder, she bent down and gently kissed the scar that affected them both beyond anything just physical. But it would heal, just like they would.

"Lulu," he said again, and this time, she knew exactly what he was asking for. She would give it to them both. She positioned herself over his erection and then guided him into her body as she sank down on top of him. She did it slowly, and they both groaned from that sensation that continued to be both familiar and new. Would it always be like this between them? she wondered.

She rode him in sensual and deliberate movements, making sure that each time she took him all the way inside of her, she could feel the added pressure to her aching clit.

He reached behind her and stroked her back and then pulled her down so her chest was lying flush against his. It prevented her from moving as freely and she felt his hands grip her ass and start grinding her back and forth against his swelling cock.

The way he seemed to be staring straight into her soul sent goosebumps racing along her skin.

She buried her head against his neck. "I love you," she moaned.

"Again."

"I love you," she said on a cry as she felt the first spasms starting to pulse around his cock.

She felt her head being pulled up gently after he had clenched a hand in her hair. He pressed his mouth against hers. "I love you," he groaned back, and she could feel wave after wave of his seed streaming through her, making her clench even harder around him.

The rest of her weight fell bonelessly against him. He sucked in a breath when she accidentally pressed against his wound. Distressed, she immediately tried to move off of him, but he forced her back in place.

"Stay exactly like that," he said weakly.

She sighed, but didn't try to move. Instead she laid her head down against him but tilted her face so she could still look into his eyes. Eyes that were closed as he breathed deeply in and out. She lowered her gaze to his chains that still glinted even in the darkness of the room and she let her fingers close around them. When she lifted her eyes back up again, his were open and staring back at her.

"I was going to kill you off in my next book," she admitted.

There was laughter in his eyes and a smile on his face.

She smiled back. "I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore."

"The sex alone should keep you from wanting to off me," he said lazily as he rubbed her back.

She laughed. "I'm not feeding your ego."

"It's a little full right now anyway."

She poked him in the chest but the smile never left her face. She missed this back and forth.

When her smile suddenly faded, he tilted her chin up. "What's wrong , sweetheart?"

"You know he pleaded not guilty, right? He's going to play the insanity card. We'll have to go through a trial."

"I know," he said tightly. "But we'll go through it together."

She nodded and sighed. Together. She held onto that word.

He lifted her left hand up to his lips and kissed the finger that wore the ring. And yeah, that still floored her.

"So we're engaged, I guess," she said.

He smiled. "We are."

"And you still haven't taken me out on a date."

His grin widened. "I was thinking about that."

"Yeah?"

"I was going to get us some tickets to the hockey game in a couple weeks."

She chewed at her lip to keep from smiling. "You want to take me to a hockey game on our first date?"

"Well, I'd take you to dinner first." His voice was playfully defensive.

She leaned up and kissed him, did smile then. "It's perfect. And it's a date. Finally."

"I love you, Lulu."

She snuggled her head back in the crook of his neck and with a content sigh, she closed her eyes. "I love you, too."

Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was that she finally found home, and it wasn't a house or an apartment. It was him, it was in his arms, and it always would be.

* * *

Dante stared down at the sleeping woman on top of him. At the hand that held the ring he placed on her finger – without panic and without doubt. Except of course in fear that she would say no. But she said yes. She accepted him, she loved him, she _got_ him. He knew he had some things to work out inside of himself, but with Lulu, he felt like he could take on anything.

He sighed and rested his lips against the softness of her hair. He found home, he found love, and he finally found peace. And he was starting to think that just maybe he deserved it after all.

* * *

Final Note:

One last thank you for all your wonderful support on this story. Sorry again for the length of this one, but I really hope that you were satisfied with the direction of the last chapter and how it ended.

Feedback definitely appreciated, whether you liked it, didn't like it, wish it had been done a different way, etc.

I know I've been asked more than once if I was going to write again, and I can't answer that for sure right now. This story started from a very personal place because I started writing it as therapy after my mom passed away this summer (the hospital scenes in the last chapter were a little hard to write because of that). That being said, you all were the reason I was able to finish it with all of your encouragement and comments. They were gold and I appreciated every single one of them and all of you.

I don't feel like I'm a good enough writer to be able to come up with something new and not have it be repetitive with what I've written in this story. I also think good or bad I put everything I had into this one, especially the last few chapters. Last night when I was thinking about this, an idea of possible periodic Guarded one-shots popped up into my head. But I'm also not sure how I feel about that because if this has ended in a good place, I'm not sure I want to do anything to mess with that. If I were to do anything like that I'd probably end it to the end of this story as additional chapters, but for now I'm marking this as complete.

So in addition to letting me know your thoughts about the last chapter, please let me know your thoughts on the one-shot thing and I promise I'll take all feedback into consideration.

Thank you all again! *hugs*


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